Leon Atkinson's Blog, page 17

HTML5 game market is expanding

This post from Photon Storm surveys the various opportunities for funding HTML5 games. Despite the assertion that “next to no market … for desktop HTML5 games“, we may see this break out in 2013. For example, check out the HTML5 implementation of Diablo. And since these games run well in Chrome, they ought to be playable on the all the Android game consoles rushing into the market this year. Also, don’t miss the HTML5 Minecraft world editor.

Photon Storm » Blog Archive » Insert Coin to Continue: The HTML5 Game Sponsorship Market

I had the pleasure of giving a presentation at the onGameStart 2012 conference in Warsaw, Poland. The title of my talk was “Insert Coin to Continue”. A gentle nod to the fact that lots of game developers do actually need paying in order to carry on creating great games! I wanted to share my experiences and results of working in the HTML5 game sponsorship market. The Flash world is well served by sites like FGL and blog posts detailing income and strategies. But very little exists for HTML5 games, hence the choice of topic for my talk. This article will cover most of my presentation for those who weren’t able to attend.

mitallast/diablo-js · GitHub

diablo-js – Isometric minimal-code style game at html5 canvas and javascript

Hey everybody, I’m working on a WebGL-based voxel world editor with planned Minecraft file format export. Here’s a screenshot and a live demo.

Here’s the screenshot, and here’s the link to the demo. The demo probably only works in Google Chrome for now. You’ll need to wait a moment at the green screen for the world to download. (It’ll look like it’s frozen for a few moments, but it’s downloading.)

After the world loads, you can click in the world to start exploring (you’ll need to let Chrome grab your mouse; you can release the mouse lock by hitting escape). If you hold down the H key after clicking into the world, it’ll display a hotkey list.

You won’t be able to edit that project, but you can go to Project->New to make one (after signing in with a google account), and you can save your project from the Project menu, too. It would pretty much make my day if anyone posted some screenshots or links to their projects.

Finally, please forgive my shadows. They are awful. I’m working on them.

The Link Conservatory

A long time ago, I made a Web app in PHP 3 and MySQL that was a mini Yahoo! hosted at the consultancy I worked for, Clear Ink. At some point, we released the source code on our Working Dogs site. This predated SourceForge, IIRC. Someone asked me for a copy, since Working Dogs is long gone. Here’s the link in case anyone else is interested.

Download The Link Conservatory source code

Wesley Willis is Wonder Woman’s brother

In 1996, my friend’s answering machine’s outgoing messages was the the first 30 seconds of Wesley Willis’s song, Jesus is the Answer. That I’ve posted about Wesley Willis will remind my wife about Wesley Willis and she will probably listen to his music for at least a day.

Wesley Willis Wonder Woman: Iconic Artist Appears In New DC Comic As Heroine’s Half-Brother

Wesley Willis’s ties to the DC Comics universe were previously limited to which superheroes’ asses he whupped, but the late cult singer and visual artist from Chicago is now in DC’s very family—or rather, Wonder Woman’s family.

Ninth Annual 7DRL Challenge

Is it possible to make a 3D Roguelike in Unity in one week?

We Have Dates for 7DRL Challenge 2013! | 7DRL Challenge

What is a Seven Day Roguelike?

A Seven Day Rogue­like is a rogue­like created in seven days. This means

the author stopped writing code one hundred and sixty eight hours

after they started writing code.

Ryan Makes Stuff — CoD of Duty: The Premier First Person Shooting Fish in a Barrel Simulator

For my January #1gam, I wanted to do something that’d be both small in scope and something that I hadn’t really done before.  Based on a joke that my friend John made about Call of Duty always being abbreviated ‘CoD’ on the internet, I decided to make a first person shooter where all of your enemy are fish.

Aspertame gets you drunk faster

The theory is that if you take in non-alcohol calories with alcohol, your body absorbs the alcohol at a slower rate. It’s already getting energy from the sugars. Aspartame has no calories available to the body, so it’s like it’s not there. Therefore, if you have a “diet” jack and coke, you will your buzz a little faster than a “classic” jack and coke. It won’t be faster than drinking your bourbon neat. Also, aspartame is probably poison you should never put in your body.

Drunk On Diet Soda « The Dish

A new study found that mixing alcohol with a diet soda results in higher (BrAC) Breath Alcohol Concentrations than mixing it with normal soda.

Only the guilty are tortured in a just world

Alex argues that if you care to convince people to fight an injustice, such as the torture of innocents, do not talk about how terrible the injustice is. Spin it as a minor issue that can be easily fixed, or turn it into an us versus them scenario. It’s clear this strategy works on lesser issues, such as with office politics.

Torture in a Just World

If the world is just, only the guilty are tortured. So believers in a just world are more likely to think that the people who are tortured are guilty. Perhaps especially so if they experience the torture closely and so feel a greater need to overcome cognitive dissonance. On the other hand, those farther away from the experience of torture may feel less need to justify it and they may be more likely to identify the tortured as victims. The theory of moral typecasting suggests that victims are also more likely to be seen as innocents (a la Jesus).

Panera’s Hidden Menu

Bookmark this in your head. If you must eat at a fast food joint, Panera Bread will sell you a salad or egg bowl that has no bread in it. How agnostic of them.

Access into Panera’s Hidden Menu :: Articles & Tips :: MyPanera

You may have heard of our Hidden Menu launch in New York City in November of last year. The biggest piece of feedback we received was around when the Hidden Menu would be available in all of our bakery-cafes. And since there’s no better way to celebrate the New Year than with you, our best customers, we’ll ring in the New Year together by expanding our Hidden Menu nation-wide – starting today.*

Everyone loves Minecraft

Here’s a cool video with kids explaining the Minecraft experience. It’s not surprising–Minecraft is generating lots of money.

Gamasutra – News – Video: Kids explain why they play Minecraft

A filmmaker manages to capture the unique, pure appeal Mojang’s Minecraft has for its younger players in less than two minutes. It’s an inspirational reminder that sometimes, uncomplicated fun is enough.

Mojang revenue hits $237 million in 2012

We already knew that 2012 was a particularly legit year for Minecraft maker Mojang, what with its principle product being purchased over 15 million times and everything, but now we have a better idea of what success like that translates to in dollars. Well, technically in krona and then translated again into dollars, but whatever.

Overall, Mojang’s revenue for 2012 tallied up at SEK 1.5 billion, or $237.84 million at current exchange rates, according to GamesIndustry’s translation of Swedish publicationIT24. Nearly half of that revenue (SEK 640 million/$101.48 million) was derived from the collection of license fees. Meanwhile, pre-tax profits were reported at SEK 580 million ($91.96 million), although no post-taxes/net income figures were provided.

How to win friends an influence people most effectively

It’s simple: remind people of their freedom. Make you case and then add, “but you are free to choose for yourself.” This rings true to me as a father. An ultimatum, when I indulge in one, is likely to be met with resistance. If I manage to make a request that’s clearly optional, I’m much more likely to get what I want.

The One (Really Easy) Persuasion Technique Everyone Should Know

It’s supported by 42 studies on 22,000 people and it’s the easiest, most practical persuasion technique available.

CPA – “Whimsy”

I listened to this whole album and it’s pretty good.

Full Album Premiere: CPA (melodic punk) – “Whimsy”

Today we’re pleased to bring you an exclusive album premiere of California skate-punk act CPA and their new full-length album “Whimsy.”