News

1/ 26/08: Hey guys, its been a while since I posted...as usual. I /HAVEN'T/ actually done any work to show y'all, BUT don't mob me yet...my new host has had some server issues. And I've been somewhat occupied. I have recently began work on a Java project, which is probably going to be decently big. I'm talking Nintendo/Capcom quality good. If you have ever heard of the game "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney," I am building an emulator for home made cases. For those of you that don't know what it is...

Phoenix Wright is an attorney. He's the main character. His job is to go in court and get his client s of murder charges...even with a case that looks lost and a court system structurally built against him. He is the master of the "Turn around," turning a case that looks like a hopeless fail into not only a complete aquittal, but finding the true murderer at the same time! And you play as him...investigating for evidence, then fighting in court. This game is really well made, each case's plots are amazing, its not just "the butler did it," and you find out what REALLY happened through game play, not to mention the overall plot...you have an intricate relationship with your rival that really grows throughout the first game, for example. Not only is the plot well-done, its also quite funny and entertaining at times, and definitely very dramatic, with lawyers pointing and shouting "OBJECTION!" in the court room at each other (You can even yell "objection" into the NDS's mic and the game will read it). Character development is absolutely great, each character is very distinct and very memorable, from the clumsy detective, Detective Dick Gumshoe, to your energetic assistant, Maya Fey. Graphics are really great too, they are DS-quality sprites made from high-resolution and quality scans of animé style drawing. The gameplay is quite linear, however, as it is quite similar to a point and click or text based adventure game (Sort of a middle ground between the two), so there is low replay value unless you forget the details of the case you would like to replay. On the Bob scale, a definite 9/10. Way up there with Mario, Luigi, PacMan, Snake, and Link...this gy is the next gaming icon. Check it out sometime.

As it is, I am currently programming the top screen of the DS, which is actually harder thn it looks, due to the amount of stuff outputted there:

1. Characters: Libraries made for some. Character layer and animations implemented.

2. Backgrounds: Implemented.

3. Foregrounds: Implemented

4. Popups (Hold it!, Take that! Objection!, Wintess Testimony): Implemented

5. Scrolling, centred, coloured text: Implemented.

6. Evidence boxes: Partially implemented.

7. HUD: Evidence Aquired/Updated needs speed work, Health Bar or Exclamation points not implemented, Testimony Icon not implemented.

8. Courtroom overview: Not implemented.

9. Effects: Partial Grayscale, Partial Alpha, Pixelate, Fade to/from black/white/red, "earthquake", "Examine" cutscene not implemented.

After the following things have been addressed, I will be finished with in-game display.  Then, I would have to add support of menu screens, but for now, I'm not worrying about that. I will do most effects and menus after I do bottom screen output and possibly input. Actually, I would probably code all the button layouts at that time, its easy and lets me test out the frame to frame mechanism.

I will post an alpha version when I code the basic input. Also, the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 came out today, I was up all of last night pushing F5 of their page until it did. Fun times, fun times. You may like it, its a cute machine, smaller footprint, less weight, MUCH bigger battery than the Air. AND PORTS!

But that's a story for another day. Until then, this is the end of our broadcast day.

1/12/08: Hi, kids, how's it going. Umm, I've just gotten a new host, so you may be seeing some files/pages being hosted there, at bobdsmith.x10hosting.com. x10, yeah, theyre good guys. The forums, are already there, at bobdsmith.x10hosting.com/forums, and I've recently made an XHTML valid, graphical menu, hostd there, which I will be hooking up to the site shortly. In other news, I got my own domain, so you can go to bobdsmith.tk, and it will take you here, provided you can put up with the 1 inch (2.54 cm) banner placed at the top of the page. When the index page is moved to x10, I'll modit (modify/edit) this page to redirect there. Cheers, guys, and I hope you like the new forums!