Southlake, TX
Imparting game development wisdom of dubious quality a ridiculously long time.
December 08, 2009
Figured I hadn't done this in a while, so I'm posting a list of a couple of useful freebies.
First is Lita. It's an Adobe AIR application that's a nice friendly graphical front-end for SQLite files. I use SQLite files in my own games to hold the settings and high score tables, and Lita is the perfec…
First is Lita. It's an Adobe AIR application that's a nice friendly graphical front-end for SQLite files. I use SQLite files in my own games to hold the settings and high score tables, and Lita is the perfec…
December 08, 2009
Figured I hadn't done this in a while, so I'm posting a list of a couple of useful freebies.
First is Lita. It's an Adobe AIR application that's a nice friendly graphical front-end for SQLite files. I use SQLite files in my own games to hold the settings and high score tables, and Lita is the perfec…
First is Lita. It's an Adobe AIR application that's a nice friendly graphical front-end for SQLite files. I use SQLite files in my own games to hold the settings and high score tables, and Lita is the perfec…
December 04, 2009
Okay, I think I have the back-story to "The Teletubbies" figured out. . .
They're clearly not human. They're apparently mammalian, but they have no apparent gender other than by appellation. Thus I assume they're aliens, also evidenced by them being surrounded by technology beyond current human capa…
They're clearly not human. They're apparently mammalian, but they have no apparent gender other than by appellation. Thus I assume they're aliens, also evidenced by them being surrounded by technology beyond current human capa…
December 04, 2009
Okay, I think I have the back-story to "The Teletubbies" figured out. . .
They're clearly not human. They're apparently mammalian, but they have no apparent gender other than by appellation. Thus I assume they're aliens, also evidenced by them being surrounded by technology beyond current human capa…
They're clearly not human. They're apparently mammalian, but they have no apparent gender other than by appellation. Thus I assume they're aliens, also evidenced by them being surrounded by technology beyond current human capa…
December 01, 2009
Just a quick note. Thecodezone.com and some of its related sites were attacked by a drive-by malicious hack last week. Thankfully, the attack wasn't entirely successful as it relied on a couple of commands that were disabled. Best I can tell, the attack attempted to auto-forward all thecodezone.com…
November 30, 2009
Howdy hoo. I'm back for the time being. I'm frustrated right now because my MacBook suddenly decided that it didn't wanna bother with that whole "booting" thing and just chugs merrily along showing a little gray spinny thing. Everything I've found on The Google hasn't helped. Next stop is my local …
November 30, 2009
Howdy hoo. I'm back for the time being. I'm frustrated right now because my MacBook suddenly decided that it didn't wanna bother with that whole "booting" thing and just chugs merrily along showing a little gray spinny thing. Everything I've found on The Google hasn't helped. Next stop is my local …
October 27, 2009
Since the gamedev.net collection books were published, Drew and I have gotten a couple of emails from people looking for the sample code. There's none in Drew's books (the blue and black book), but there's plenty of downloadable sample code in my books (green and orange). We opted not to have a pac…
October 22, 2009
I promised more content in the blog, so here's some. . .
One perk of being a reviewer is that I occasionally get unsolicited bits of whatever from people fishing for new reviews. And last week, out of the blue, the WinZip people sent me a magic code to unlock the latest version of WinZip Pro in the …
One perk of being a reviewer is that I occasionally get unsolicited bits of whatever from people fishing for new reviews. And last week, out of the blue, the WinZip people sent me a magic code to unlock the latest version of WinZip Pro in the …
October 08, 2009
Actually I have many things about which to comment. Instead of bunching the whole mess up into one post, I'll just make several posts. That'll at least give the impression that I'm posting prolifically to the Bargain Basement Blog.
First off, I got a Macbook. My little Mac Mini decided to make an un…
First off, I got a Macbook. My little Mac Mini decided to make an un…
September 08, 2009
Phase 2 of my "viral" word games is now up today. It's. . .
hangtwit.com
It's pretty-much the same underpinnings as my recently-released cryptotwit.com, except this time it's a hangman game. It uses the same underlying database and phrase list as cryptotwit, so you can switch between the two if you w…
hangtwit.com
It's pretty-much the same underpinnings as my recently-released cryptotwit.com, except this time it's a hangman game. It uses the same underlying database and phrase list as cryptotwit, so you can switch between the two if you w…
September 08, 2009
Phase 2 of my "viral" word games is now up today. It's. . .
hangtwit.com
It's pretty-much the same underpinnings as my recently-released cryptotwit.com, except this time it's a hangman game. It uses the same underlying database and phrase list as cryptotwit, so you can switch between the two if you w…
hangtwit.com
It's pretty-much the same underpinnings as my recently-released cryptotwit.com, except this time it's a hangman game. It uses the same underlying database and phrase list as cryptotwit, so you can switch between the two if you w…
August 24, 2009
Maggie started her second week of second grade today. She's thrilled to be back at her (new) school and has already made a couple of new buddies. The teacher wasn't too tough on 'em academically the first week, so Maggie let her boundless ambition get to work.
- Her first day at school, she made a sch…
August 14, 2009
Yikes, 30 days since my last post. I guess that's more reason for you to follow me on twitter (twitter.com/johnhattan).
Anyways, the project-that-cannot-be-named is now named. And its name is cryptotwit.com. It's a game and a website and a facebook app all rolled up in one.
Basically you go to crypto…
Anyways, the project-that-cannot-be-named is now named. And its name is cryptotwit.com. It's a game and a website and a facebook app all rolled up in one.
Basically you go to crypto…
July 10, 2009
Hi there. Sorry about the sporadic posts. If you want more up-to-date updates complete with 140 character braindumps and whatever one-liner happens to cross my mind, be sure to follow me at
http://twitter.com/johnhattan
Otherwise here are the topics.
1. Shelly's got a new job.
Barnett Shale (a bigass r…
http://twitter.com/johnhattan
Otherwise here are the topics.
1. Shelly's got a new job.
Barnett Shale (a bigass r…
June 17, 2009
Putting Appcelerator Titanium on the back-burner for the time-being, as I've deemed it to be not-as-yet mature enough to solve all of my problems. Much as I'd like to build everything with free tools, the maturity's not yet there. It'll be there when I need it (around Android/Blackberry time) and i…
June 02, 2009
Okay, still not developing for the iPhone yet, but I'm closer. Things have gotten both clearer and more fuzzy. So I'm making myself a table with the available technologies on it. . .
Technology: Objective C
Portability: Nil. If I write an iPhone game for the iPhone, it stays on the iPhone forever. If…
Technology: Objective C
Portability: Nil. If I write an iPhone game for the iPhone, it stays on the iPhone forever. If…
May 19, 2009
Ahh, handhelds. I friggin' hate developing for handhelds.
I'm more or less officially between projects, and I'm getting pestered to move some of my games to handhelds, specifically iPhone. While it appears that iPhone and Android and Blackberry and Windows Mobile are about 90% the same and it should…
I'm more or less officially between projects, and I'm getting pestered to move some of my games to handhelds, specifically iPhone. While it appears that iPhone and Android and Blackberry and Windows Mobile are about 90% the same and it should…
May 18, 2009
Just for giggles, I made up a gamedev.net clan for mybrute.com. For those uninitiated, mybrute.com is a very silly little game in which you pit your character (your brute) against other brutes. As you progress, you'll get more weapons and abilities.
It's mildly fun, and it only takes about five minu…
It's mildly fun, and it only takes about five minu…
May 05, 2009
First off, sorry that thecodezone.com is down. My hosting provider is working to bring things back up, but things are going much more slowly than I thought they would.
Now then, on to the title. About six weeks ago I got pestered by one of the Mochiads people regarding their "make a batman game" con…
Now then, on to the title. About six weeks ago I got pestered by one of the Mochiads people regarding their "make a batman game" con…
May 01, 2009
Several things today, as always. I intended to write this yesterday, but I ended up at a City of Denton land development meeting (it's a long story), so I write today.
First off, I won the Silly Rage contest! It's a minor win, but a win just the same. For the uninitiated (and you are most likely uni…
First off, I won the Silly Rage contest! It's a minor win, but a win just the same. For the uninitiated (and you are most likely uni…
April 14, 2009
Sorry about the delay. I wisely scheduled my book-contest smack-dab in the middle of "Adobe Week", in which I'm writing and/or posting a dozen reviews of Adobe CS4 or related products to Gamedev.
I'm late in announcing, but I'm done now. Here were my judging criteria. . .
It must have a real 5-7-5 sy…
I'm late in announcing, but I'm done now. Here were my judging criteria. . .
It must have a real 5-7-5 sy…
April 07, 2009
Yeah, that's right. It's time for another book giveaway.
This time I'm making it simple. I'm giving away a copy of Beginning Game Programming: A Gamedev.net Collection (the orange book) AND Business and Production: A Gamedev.net Collection (the blue book). There'll be two winners, one blue and one o…
This time I'm making it simple. I'm giving away a copy of Beginning Game Programming: A Gamedev.net Collection (the orange book) AND Business and Production: A Gamedev.net Collection (the blue book). There'll be two winners, one blue and one o…
March 27, 2009
I had a mild vapor-lock moment this morning reading one of my favorite "get rich slowly" sites. Turns out one of those convenient "attractive CD rate internet account" websites was an offshore ponzi scheme funneling cash to some crooks in California.
And it didn't scare me because I had money in it.…
And it didn't scare me because I had money in it.…
March 26, 2009
Seems like I make one post per week that consists of multiple topics that I can't cram into a 140-character Twitter. So I'll keep following that meme.
I've gotten no meaningful sponsorship offers from anyone for the new Flash Think Tank, so I'm just going to go with plan-A, which is to pull the site…
I've gotten no meaningful sponsorship offers from anyone for the new Flash Think Tank, so I'm just going to go with plan-A, which is to pull the site…
March 13, 2009
I got to see Jim Cramer on the Daily Show yesterday (google for it if you haven't heard of it), and I was reminded of that old interview that Dateline (I think it was) did with evangelist-crook Benny Hinn. They spent about 20 minutes rubbing Hinn's nose in his own ridiculous antics and his refusal …
March 12, 2009
Oh so many things. The life of a renaissance man is never uneventful.
Item One
First off, I posted a very quick "how to fix your car's mats in 15 minutes for six bucks" tutorial here. MAKE magazine has a "mend it march" promotion, and I thought I'd contribute.
Item Two
Next, I got two more orange books…
Item One
First off, I posted a very quick "how to fix your car's mats in 15 minutes for six bucks" tutorial here. MAKE magazine has a "mend it march" promotion, and I thought I'd contribute.
Item Two
Next, I got two more orange books…
March 04, 2009
Thanks for the entries, people. Ultimately I had 27 people who followed the rules (add me and send me the message). And out of those 27 people, our winner was DecipherOne!
http://twitter.com/DecipherOne
Keep an eye on the Bargain Basement Blog, as I'll certainly have more books to give away!
http://twitter.com/DecipherOne
Keep an eye on the Bargain Basement Blog, as I'll certainly have more books to give away!
February 27, 2009
I'm Giving Away A Free Book, So Read This Post To The End!
First off, I posted a new review of Musicshake here. Happy reading.
https://www.gamedev.net/features/reviews/productreview.asp?productid=725
Next off, I got the next two gamedev books in the mail yesterday, including my own "Beginning Programm…
First off, I posted a new review of Musicshake here. Happy reading.
https://www.gamedev.net/features/reviews/productreview.asp?productid=725
Next off, I got the next two gamedev books in the mail yesterday, including my own "Beginning Programm…
February 23, 2009
Well the recession is recessioning, and this one isn't one of those little "that was a recession?" recessions of the early 90's. You can actually feel this one. Some of you are feeling it pretty hard. Even our own pet recession-proof industry to which Shelly and I have hitched our wagons (energy) i…
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