PlanetFunk

In my first year of a programming certificate (1993?) I wrote several really bad games (in Pascal) that only my best friend and brother played.

The whole HTML5 game thing got me excited enough to try again and "Last Man Standing: A Zombie Apocalypse" was born.

Now, thanks to the power of the internet, a game that may have seen a couple of people play has had 20,000 hits, and sees, on the long tail, between 50 and 100 people a day (50% repeat visits).

That's not a lot of people, but it's a hell of a lot more than just my mate :) and I love the fact that there are people out there that like my game enough to come back to it :)

Think of it a little differently. Live in the now. You are currently witnessing a time that some of those before you wished they could live to see. How exciting! :)

Very interesting. A while ago I read about a belt that enabled the wearer to know true north and was very interested in trying to develop something similar (maybe the size of a watch).

This implanting sounds kind of cool (in a cyber punk sort of way). Guess deep down there's a trans-human in me wanting to get out ;)

Not sure about the pain, loss of digits, infections, etc...

Well, the title used "Seven Deadly Sins". I'm not sure that using "The Seven Great Rational Evolutionary Strategies" has the same ring to it - although, the more I think about it, the more I like it.

Slightly off-topic, but my ultimate device is something like a smart phone that can dock into different "stations" (think desktop, laptop, tablet) and utilise that stations peripherals (screen, mouse, keyboard, etc).

Ignoring the fantasy hardware, an OS that could handle that would be mind blowing.

Marketing Genius Does it Again? Not to be inflammatory, but that seems a bit over the top.

initial link/discussion http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1581095

From the last link I liked the idea, installed the app and mapped my happiness a few times, only to find out it was UK only :(

Shameful self-plug :)

I would like to think Last Man Standing was excellent :)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/165110/lastmanstanding/index.html

Ok, I've replaced the database with localStorage and it's all good to go - at least in FF 3.6.8, although it seems to be washing out the font colors.

Thanks for the suggestion.

That's awesome. Thanks for the lead. I'll try and implement that tonight :)

Correct. You'll need Safari or Chrome to play.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_SQL_Database

Web SQL Database is supported by Google Chrome, Opera and Safari but will not be implemented by Mozilla(Firefox) which instead advocates Indexed Database API access.

1) My initial game was arrows keys and mouse to shoot which didn't translate into touch. That's the best I've got at the moment that allows movement and throwing grenades. Ideas would be appreciated.

2) I place a light grey outer circle around the player for weapon ranges initially but my wife hated it :) i'll see what else I can come up with.

3) Help screen. You're absolutely right. I'll make it my first priority.

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

Yeah, they're based on L4D specials, so you have boomers, smokers, and tanks.

A couple of weeks ago I showed you guys a web game I wrote for the 10k contest.

I wrote that in about 7 hours and hadn't intended to submit anything until the last minute which is why it was so rough.

It's been 18 days since then, and this is where I'm at so far.

It uses the html5 canvas and browser database (SQLite not indexedDB) so will only run in Safari, and Chrome, and I've been specifcally targeting the iPhone.

The url goes to my posterous for an overview of the game and links to it and the source.

Being my first game, I would greatly appreciate any comments you have on it.

To go directly to the game:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/165110/lastmanstanding/index.html

Or see the original 10k Apart entry:

http://10k.aneventapart.com/Uploads/358/

Edited for spelling and 18 "days"

This is my first game inspired by the http://10k.aneventapart.com/ contest.

I submitted an earlier version to them an hour or so before contest close, but this version is a little tighter.

Not sure why you've put "reduce" in the title. It's an excerpt of an article about Robert Sapolsky and stress entitled "stress", and mentions nothing about reducing it, other than it's bad for a number of reason - and hence you probably should decrease it...

Much better title. The first came across as attention seeking. This title invites us to discuss your idea/site, not your stroke ego :)

Sites like this make me very angry.

My first instinct would be to see how the site handles large numbers. The best outcome would be for both (fake) participants to continuing bidding until the values wrapped and they both end up having to pay a large negative number, thereby winning big :)

I'd have a look through it if the font didn't make my brain hurt.

I wrote a jetpack app the allows you to toggle the Search header, Left Column, and Footer elements on/off in iGoogle.

http://jetpackgallery.mozillalabs.com/jetpacks/55

I'd say it didn't take off because it requires the user to have firefox, install jetpack, use igoogle, and be annoyed by all that wasted space etc :)

I wouldn't say it failed. I use it at work and home, and I love it :)

I wrote a jetpack app the allows you to toggle the Search header, Left Column, and Footer elements on/off in iGoogle.

http://jetpackgallery.mozillalabs.com/jetpacks/55

I'd say it didn't take off because it requires the user to have firefox, install jetpack, use igoogle, and be annoyed by all that wasted space etc :)

I wouldn't say it failed. I use it at work and home, and I love it :)

It's amazing to think of what we do that's governed by society/advertising.

I began my own experiment over 3 years ago, where I stopped using shampoo to wash my hair, and instead, wash it every day, but only using water.

I've found that my hair is only slightly oily. And by that I mean it has a natural coating - not something you'd notice.

It doesn't look, smell, or feel any different to when I used shampoo, but I guess I've saved a bit of money, and have removed one set of chemicals contacting my skin.

I wouldn't say it's changed my life, but there is a sense of sense of happiness(smugness?) in knowing that I don't need whatever they're(advertising) selling.

Now, how to over come my addiction to tech...

Thanks for the comment. Although I think there's good reason for declaring variables in the narrowest possible scope, I'm not sure it's enough of a reason to bring it up - especially if it's more about coding style, rather than best practice.

The size of the functions isn't really an issue, but I see your point.

If they're as small as the examples above, it doesn't make much difference.

What a horrible keyboard!

I've only recently been looking for a new keyboard for home because on my current (Microsoft Media Desktop 1000) all the function keys are tiny and packed together with no grouping (F1-F4 F5-F8 F9-F12). Coding is so much slower on it because I can't touch type/find the bloody keys.

And don't get me started on manufacturers who move the insert/delete/home/end/pgup/pgdn keys...

I ended up getting a Lenovo 73P4067 because it's one of the only manufacturers I could find who has a standard keyboard combined with wireless.

Maybe I'm just getting old, and set in my ways, but give me a standard keyboard any day.

/end rant