While creating this map. I learned lots of things. Example, in this map I started to use Source engines Entity Input Output system to create scripted doors and traps. I also learned howto create doors.

As this is my second map, it may not be as great as it could be. But I would really like to get some feedback from this level. If you can/want, I would like if you would record demo from playing this level trough, and then sending it to me so I can see how the level works.

There is some things I could improve. There isn’t lots of props and some of the materials can look awkward. I also don’t have any assault/nodegraph system build, so most of enemies just wait that you come and kill them.

In case somebody wants to see what I have done, but can’t/doesn’t want to download the map, here is a video from the map. Please note that it is major spoiler.

Download links are at my project page. Please let me know what you think about this map.

All the maps, units and rules are the same. If you have played the battle for wesnoth on your computer, you will learn iPhone version without any problems.

Major changes to pc version is only the controls (obviously) and framerate. Controls are good and hitting small buttons is pretty accurate. I haven’t got any major problems controlling the game. At first it may feel bit difficult.

As the iPhone isn’t as fast as the computer, it feels bit slow some times in terms of framerate. On large maps the scrolling can be pain because of this. (but the “next unit” action helps here) The load times are long for iPhone game. It takes about 1-2 minutes to get to the game… So its not for quick game.

There is also multiplayer game included, but I haven’t looked into it yet. The game also supports Openfeint platform. Openfeint is same kind of gaming community like Plus+, but it offers much better way to communicate with friends/other people. Openfeint has also achievements juts like Plus+.

The prize (4e) is bit high for a port from a free game, but if you like Battle for Wesnoth on computer, buy it. If you haven’t, check the pc version first, as it is free.

Movement in this game is awesome. Controls are simple, but also very powerful. In couple if minutes, all of the tricks are easy to make when needed. Climbing, sliding, jumping… Everything is just so smooth…

Graphics are very unique. Lots of bright colors and bloom. In my opinion, this game has one of the best graphics details. It’s not technically great, but it just looks great. I like some small details like red paint on white floor, etc. And lots of bloom!

Level design has to be good in this kind of game, and it is. There were only couple of times when I got stuck and mostly it was because of the overpowered enemies, not because of the level design. But sometimes this game feels way too easy…

At technical side of the game, I got some problems. First is lack of support for normal resolutions, so I had those annoying black boxes on my screen… Second problem is Physx problems on my Ati card…

It was short, but a great game. I recommend to try it. (I got it for 3e from Steam holiday sales so the length wasn’t problem for me )

As this is my first map, it is not perfect. But in my opinion, for first map it isn’t bad. I have couple of things that I would have done better. Example the orange dev material at start. But I have succeed in couple of things in my opinion well. Enemies are balanced, and there isn’t too never too much of them. And there is still challenge. I also really like how the lights works. Example the cave entrance at first room looks nice.

Most of the people won’t download the map anyway, so I uploaded a video so they can watch it. Please note that the video is one huge spoiler for this level. Watch it only if you don’t want to play the level.

Video with sound at wegame.

If somebody has any comments, please post them so I can make better maps.

Download the map/source files from my project page.

Update (8.3.2010): Added health packages to level and fixed the “wrong name” issue that caused random crashes. Redownload the file.

I have tried couple frameworks and all of them have been pretty nice. I especially like cakephp.

But the problem with these sometimes is that they force too much where what code should be placed. Example the Model View Controller stuff. The idea is great idea and I have nothing againgst it, on some small project cakephp/any most of the frameworks are way too massive. (in my opinion of course)

But if I code from scratch and place all if my code where it feels good to place it… Usually something is somehow in wrong place. This is when I get the idea for my own framework.

Napalm engine framework (or NeF in short) is a php framework that doesn’t make creating code any faster. It just helps to keep code where it should be. It should help managing code base on small/medium project.

This framework also won’t force user to place some code on some place. It only offers way to manage code in standart way. If user doesn’t want to use all of the elements, rest of the system won’t break.

NeF will also be simple to learn, because there isn’t any kind of complex API.

The idea of application workflow is following:

Actions are things that gets users input, does querys to database, handle data, etc.

Render segment is in 2 parts:

• View is a HTML document with php links to blocks
• Blocks is a piece on a view. Example a content area/navigation.

Then there is 4 different helpers. Helpers are small code snippets that should be executed, but really aren’t part of actions/views

• Pre-action helpers – stuff that is executed before actions
• Pre-render helpers – before render
• Post-render helpers – and after render
• Normal helpers – can be used anywhere in code, called by specific function.

And if I will ever get this done, I will publish this under open source license.

After creating an account and logging in, you can join to lobby, talk at the main chat, see who is online and create new lobbies. After joining lobby, you choose side and which class you want to play and when the lobby is full 6v6 and everybody is ready, the match starts. TF2 is launched via the steam link that will automatically connect to the server and use the password. When the teams are ready at the server, its time to play.

The system is nice and works well. There is couple of servers dedicated for tf2lobby and the system how they work is very similar to l4d2 matchmaking system. Server that are dedicated for tf2lobby are running without admins 24/7. When a lobby is starting a game, the tf2lobby sends couple rcon commands to the server setting it up, then sends the password to the users who can connect. System always checks if there is players already on the server, so active games are not stopped if there is new game starting.

It is also possible to use own server with this system by giving server ip and rcon password. Tf2lobby will remotely setup the server via the rcon.

Currently the system has some kind of karma system. You gain karma by playing games or by getting rated by other users. You lose karma by leaving from game. The system looks nice, but so far there isn’t any way to see somebody’s karma. But I think that in future players that leaves in middle of match aren’t problem. There is also nice system that asks new player to join the game if somebody leaves before the match has been finished.

TF2Lobby also needs more EU servers. But there is usually somebody with their own EU server.

However, this game isn’t anymore as fun as it was when I first started playing this… Here is some reasons why.

Lack of dedicated servers is huge problem. It doesn’t make the game unplayable, but rather very annoying. It’s just so fun to see on killcam that you shot only 2 bullets, when you really have shot half of the clip to that guy that knifed you…

Then there is those well balanced weapons like grenade launchers and anything akimbo. This would be much better game without akimbo/grenade launchers. Akimbo shotguns  are especially annoying…

And finally, the last reason for this rage post, the idiots that this game has way too much. There is just way too many kids screaming on mics, cheaters with aimbots/wallhacks, campers, people that won’t speak English and spams the chat with characters that nobody understands, retarded hosts downloading stuff while playing…

Well, this was great game for a while, but now this feels just annoying…

Modern Warfare 2 Stats

(and I will try to update this blog more often

• 2770 spam comments spammed
• 279 comments created
• 51 blog posts
• Most commented article: “World War for ipod” with 201 comments
• Total of 18.5G of bandwidth used
• 224m of hd space used (Containing everything that I host under this domain)
• Total of 1 77 617 hits to webserver
  

Top articles:

• World War iPod touch/iPhone game – 7080 hits
• Dropbox – 5387 hits
• Ultimate irssi guide for beginners – 5262 hits
• Play World War and other games on computer – 2807 hits
• Amazon ec2 – 2701 hits
• Woopra – 2352 hits
• iStat menus system monitor for mac – 2152 hits

Source of visitors:

• Direct 4.92%
• Links 55.25%
• Search engines 39.8%

Browsers:

• Firefox 68.89%
• IE 13.11%
• Safari 10.41%
• Chrome 3.23%

Operating systems:

• windows 67.72%
• Mac 14.09%
• Linux 11.68%

Plans for next year

• create over 51 blog posts
• create 2.0 version of Powerslash (Ajax and other cool stuff)
• create new theme for this blog
• complete Nethack

Happy new year to everybody!

Rss is good technology and I like it, but it is way too easy to subscribe to many feeds and slowly changing the feed reader from useful software to flooding inbox with couple hundred unread news.

If you have same kind of problems try Lazyfeed. It is a feed reader that is designed to be simple and easy way to read feeds without wasting time managing feeds.

Unlike normal feed readers, you can’t subscribe to feeds regular feeds. You can subscribe to keywords and then lazyfeed will fetch posts from that are related and then show them to you in realtime.

There is one feature that I like LOT: Mr Lazy. Mr Lazy appears randomly and asks question based on other keywords added to list. Example when I had Linux keyword, Bob asked what is my favorite distro and then he added it to my playlist! Great way to recommend keywords that I may like.

Lazyfeed is good for random reading and just monitoring some stuf without getting massive unread numbers. It is also easy to subscribe to lots of topics without messing up the usability.

Only problem with lazyfeed is change to miss somethig useful. But I totally recommend to try it!

But the greatest thing is that they finally fixed the “password protected” folders. Because now they are really secure. It is no longer possible to delete folder to see content of passlocked folder. It is also possible to lock the whole application.