New improved pain in the backside....

Well, it seems this computer is giving up the ghost and I'll have to rebuild it at some point. Reinsalling XP and all the tools I need to complete this game will hae to come off and then be put back on again. I'll have to do that when I finish My Holiday at the end of September, so progress on the game it'sself will be quite slow.

However, I have turned my attention to the Java and JBuilder side of the Game. I've restarted the turtorials and now have an oppertunity to look at some of the toolkits (collections of classes), that I can use in order to progress.

Headless Chickens anybody ......

Well, me and my big mouth. The mad panic was delayed until yesterday at about 5 when the Microsoft OLE DB was not found to work with some of the COM components we have. So now we have to use both OLEDB Providers. The Service Pack 4 problem does not occur with COM objects using the Oracle provider so Microsoft OLE DB for Asp and Oracle for COM. So much for universal Data Access.

As far as the game is concerned, I really am getting an idea of how much work will be involved in writing this game. It looks as if it will take at least six months of work before I can see any creible results (ie an Alpha) and at least a year away from a Beta Test. During that time, it is likely that someone else will have come up with a similar or exaclty the same idea, which will make any idea of make money out of this redundant. But as is stated at the beginning, this is a learning exercise so there's no point in giving up without trying.

We have visitor's tonight at home so no work can proceed, but I have made a start on the Client UML Static Diagram. This is going to be easier than the Server Diagram as half of the Server Diagram can be reused.

There is a suprise ....

The mad panic didn’t happen. Everyone proceeded in an orderly fashion and the code has proved it’s self during Unit Testing.

During the quiet moments, I’ve been working my way through the Server UML Static Diagram. I have one interface and a number of associations left to do but it’s almost finalised.

The overall design is now more advanced that the test code I’d written so far, so all that can go out of the window. The User Interface for the map designer is still to be worked on. I’m going to priorities my work as such.

1) Using the UML State Diagram, generate the code required for the map designer.
2) Finish of the user interface for the map designer.
3) Integrate the data access functions of the map designer with the database.
4) Continue with the JBuilder and Java Exercises until confidence I have the ability to start working on the client.
5) Start the UML State Diagram for the Client as part of the design process.

I have to be careful to maintain momentum and keep focused, the problem I’m having at the moment is that I seem to be getting too distracted by other games or rushing between tasks too much.

Back again and busy with it.

Well, here we are again. Client 'F' is requiring this new fix by Next Week so we have to have the system tested and available by Thursday lunchtime at the latest so it can be deployed in time. You can just see the mad panic begin to settle into the management's eyes.

Almost there....

Right .Net is working again, The Media player is working again, the only thing left is the Windows update. So basically I'm ready to go, just in time for work to start. What a waste of two days off. And people thing that it's only big corporations that get hit with a virus, us little people get hit too.

Come on then... is that the best you can do ?

Just when you think things can’t get any worse, they do. My .Net Development Environment is screwed, as is my Windows update. Both of which stopped working as soon as this virus hit me. I now don’t know if I should try and reinstall the .Net framework or wipe my Machine and start again.

This is having a really bad impact on game development because this is almost a week since the problems started with the virus and the graphics card. Only a small amount of work has been done on the game, mostly at design stage, and it’s so frustrating.

So frustrating in fact that I even pull together some work projects. At work I hadn’t been able to get an XLT translation to work and this was causing me to pull my hair out. Today I found the problem. I was using the wrong namespace. Talk about embarrassing, that’s the kind of thing that first time programmers make. I’ve used xml and xslt before and to miss that really is like kicking yourself.

Urgh ! F**ked by the fickle finger of fate (again).

Oh I’m really not having much luck this week. The w32 worm has hit me and Norton just cleaned it up. I feel that no or little progress is being made at the moment, which is incredibly frustrating. Still, got to keep going because there’s too much I need to know.

Well, that's that busted.

The new(er) G-Force Card is shagged. I tried with some different drivers but is just gave up the ghost. I've decided to send it away for repair, as it's got a two year hardware guarantee. Looks like I won’t be playing any high-powered graphic games for a while, which is a pity because I’m just getting into Neverwinter Nights.

Beside that, Work just ramped up the pressure again. Client ‘F’ wants changes done by the end of today and Client ‘J’ wants the analysis of one their systems complete by today. That’s too much work for one person to handle and everyone else is on Holiday. I’m seriously beginning to think about a career change.

On a more positive note, I found a work around for the Oracle problem we were having. We’ve had to move the OLE DB Provider to the Microsoft Equivalent. Apparently the Oracle one still has bugs in it and Service Pack four moves things about too much for it to handle.

Not much is happening on the game design front, although I’ve got some new UML Use Cases for the system. Thankfully there’s not that many. What’s frustrating is that I feel that if I just got a little time to myself to crack on with it, I’d be making progress. I just feel bogged down.

I’ve put some more thought into the user interface that will be required by the Client and after taking a little bit of inspiration from the aforementioned Neverwinter Nights, I think I’ve got it sorted. It means re-writing some of the Client Spec, but it’s a great improvement over the first idea I had.

Typical.

I'm sitting down for another go at some design work and the computer freezes up. There goes the graphics card. Up till one in the morning trying to get it working and still no joy. I've had to install an old geforce 2 just to get me up and running. It's going to be a while until I get this machine back up so everything is on hold. My wife has concluded that I can probably string the longest amount of swear words together in a single sentance and is thinking of phoning it in to the Guiness book of Records.

Day Off.

I've taken a day off work to handle some problems that are not related to work, (i.e. paying bills etc nothing real exciting). But it has given me an opportunity to really dig into the UML design work I'm doing.

Presently I'm working on the UML Class Diagram (or Static Structure) for the Server. I’ve hit a couple of snags but I seem to be working through them. Google is invaluable at this stage because I’m raiding other people designs and designs to see how they’ve implemented their ideas.

One slight downside has been the Export Function for VB.NET. Although it’s done a great job in setting up the Operations and Attributes, it doesn’t create VB Class properties. These will have to be hand coded in at a later time.

The upshot of all this is, I’m still going to have to put in more code than I originally thought, but it still cuts down on the amount work I have to do (Which is always a good thing).

Also I’ve see a couple of areas where the design can be improved and at this stage it’s easy to rip these things up and start again.

The work on the Client Functional Design is complete. I have to now delve deeper in and decide about basic screen shots etc. The JBuilder tutorials, I’m running through seem to progress quite well, but I’ve still got to gain confidence with both Java and JBuilder itself.

No progress with the map designer. I’m going to implement the new classes generated by the latest design before I can progress with the coding. But I’m still looking into these grid controls.

Damn this virus ......

Things have got more hectic with client ‘F’. I’ve been desperately trying to find a solution to the OLE DB Provider problem. It seems that our web pages work OK when you use the Microsoft equivalent, but it doesn’t perform as well, which in itself is an issue.

Client ‘J’ s new system is working fine, although there seems to be some grumbling about the small print in the original specification. Hopefully, they’ll get over that and appreciate (Ha Ha what was I thinking) what it does and then if they want any enhancements, pay for them.

On the game, I’ve got the new Visio working with my designs and I’ve found out I’ve been using it wrong. Got a couple of UML Diagram Types mixed up. Hopefully I can get it sorted out in the next couple of days.

The Jbuilder 9 is an improvement on the previous version and hopefully I’ll get my skeleton together just see if the transfer process can work.

Progress on the Map builder progresses, I’ve just got to get the hang of this new grid control. Once that’s together, the rest should be easy. I’ve got the hang of ADO.NET Basics now, so hopefully getting from the stage of creating a Test Map and saving it into a database won’t be far off.

Knackered...

Well It's been a long day. They're going ahead with this service patch 4 fix and that means we're going to loose our web sites with client 'F', unless I can find a work around in the next few days. At least the latest project with Client 'J' is going well. The final big stage is on Monday.

More work on the Client and Server specifications. As this game is basically a turn based strategy affair I've got several problems ahead of me. The first is the encryption. Somehow I've got to find a way to encript all the data between the client and the server. The second is picking up the turn at the other end.

Also made a good start on the Map Designer. It's the first time, I've really had to get to grips with the .NET environment and it is so different from VB6 it is like using another language. Had to search for ages to find a simple grid control. The Microsoft one is too complex for what is required here and too prone for faults.

Think that's it for the night.

Suprise at work.

Work have just given me their copy of Jbuilder 9 (with full licence) for Evaluation purposes. I've to install it at home and see if it's going to meet works requirements for some new projects coming up. The upshot is I get to keep it so I can transfer the couple of classes I have got over to the latest version.

Work proceeds on the Client and Server Specs. I've had to revise the UML diagrams abit. One of the Guys at work has noted that you can transfer a UML State Diagram straight into VB.NET. This could save me days of typing so I'm going to have to look into this more closely. There were hints that JBuilder might have something similar. Time to dig through the Manuals.

This msblaster is causing a headache. Client 'J' infected our servers which means the dreaded service pack 4 goes on our machines. This patch Breaks our Asp Webs site. Combination of Oracle Database and Microsoft products not working as they should. I can see long days ahead.

Well That was fun.

After sorting out the headless chickens at work, I finally got down to a bit of design work on the client today. I've got most of the functionality noted down so I know where and what certain bits do. The problem I'm having now is what these user interfaces should look like. I know the style that's needed but as I have the artistic ability of blind gorrila, I think I'm a little out of my depth.

The graphics can be sorted out at a later point as long as I can get the gameplay right. Most of the articles I've read in Edge Magazine and on the newgroups seem to imply that the graphical designs should come into it towards the end of the pre-production stage or even at the beginning of development.

The Impression I'm getting is there are four major stages to developing a game.

1. The Idea for the game (Inspiration).
2. Pre-Production (Rounding out the idea).
3. Production (Writing and testing Code).
4. Post production (Support, Patches, etc).

I suppose I'm still at stage 2. Both the server and the Client Specs have to be fully completed and the code I have written has mostly experimental. There is a very long way to go with this.

Typical !!

This new virus is causing a lot of headaches at work. So instead of doing some Jbuilder work, I had to work late.

I Have recently discovered a website that gives a lot of advice in writing any type of game. http://www.sloperama.com/advice.html.

Very useful read.

For the last six months or so I've been working on a computer game. I'm using it as a way to learn new languages and methodologies but if the game turns out to be good, I might release a basic version as freeware. This might even serve as a warning to some other ‘bedroom’ programmers of the amount of work, which will be involved and how much time you loose.

The present state is that there is a team of one (i.e. Me) who has almost ten years of system design and programming experience. However, in order to get this game to work, Java and Jbuilder, Java Micro Edition, .Net, XML and UML design Methodologies will all have to be dealt with (and I’m hoping that I’ve not bitten off more than I can chew).

Presently, familiarity with the .net development environment and of J Builder is somewhat shaky. Visual Basic .Net is ‘getting there’ and I’m petrified of using Java (I’m allergic to curly brackets).

As far as the design is concerned, there are five sections to consider.

1. The overall game design document.
2. The client design document.
3. The server design document.
4. The support tools design document.
5. The Future Enhancement document.

Of this only the 1st and 5th have been created properly, all the rest exist in notepaper form.