Sooo... Touch the Stars.

did it about 3 years ago, as a little side project while working on microcosmos. At that time I was in the army, and didn't really have the time to get it done. I left it 95% finished and forget about it for 3 years.

Until about two weeks ago, when I found it laying around my computer. I actually had to use a decompiler to figure out what font I used, and write a few old external AS files that got lost over the years.

But eventually I got it to compile, tweaked it a little, and now it's out.

See? I finish what I start.

So... 3 years.

It seems like people still visit here, about one guy a year or so, and I think I owe at least a status update to the people who enjoyed my games and got me money.

For the last 3 years I've done nothing. No games, no fun programming. Wrote some boring C# code, accidentally learned VB... boring geek stuff.

And then I saw this.

And then I knew. I knew that I'm gonna get back to flash, I knew what i'm gonna create a new game, I knew how it's going to be, how it'll look like, and how it'll work.

And then I was happy.

"Update your player."

Sadly, It seems your flash player is not up to date.

That is often caused by not updating your player software on regular basis, but can also be the result of not updating it at all, or updating it and later uninstalling the new version and reinstalling the old one.

It is a good idea to update your software - whether it's Flash Player or any other program you use or game you play - to stay up to date with the latest technology and bug fixes. Newer software gives you more features, the ability to shoot fireballs, better performance, and overall better functionality then older versions.

Updating your software also allows you to stay tuned to everything new. In the never-resting world of the Internet, you need updated software to utilize the latest developments in information technology. When using new software you will never find yourself with a file you can't open or a program you can't run. Regularly updating your software allows you to experience the full potential of the Internet and your computer, giving you an endless world of unlimited possibilities.

So why won't you take a moment, just one moment, to visit Macromedia.com and get Shockwave Flash Player 2.0?

Originally, I intended to have just "update your flash player" as the message the player sees if his flash player is too old for Touch The Stars. But then I thought - people always complain my games have too little text, isn't it time I do something about it?

[You may ask yourself what is Touch The Stars. I will allow you to ask yourself that.]

Microcosmos is getting tedious.

What I need here is a purpose. I need to see the end coming.
In Areas I had it simple - half a day's work and a new area or powerup is finished. With microcosmos I can work on a single formation for a week, only to realize it's basic concept is flawed.
So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna stop tweaking the game engine, and start working on the actual game. By mid November I'll have 15 more formations, and then I'll start working on the interface. Shouldn't take more then a month, given that I currently have no idea how the interface is going and even if I had, I'd probably end up making something completely different. Then two weeks for the story and story implementation, and it's 2009. One week for final tweaking, and then, say, two months for beta-testing, refining, beta testing again, etc. now we're in February. One more week for some final fixes, Two more weeks for stuff I can't predict, and the game should be ready at March 2009.

March 09. Yeah.

End

Imagine being alone at the end of the universe. Vast nothing all around you, everywhere. No more stars, no more planets, no more light, no more matter. Your existence means nothing, everything there is is still dead. You're less then a tiny grain of dust, hardly a squeak, compared to the size of the universe. It's dead, and it will stay dead.
Unless you can "restart" it. Pull everything there is into a tiny spot and re-create the big bang. You will die doing that, but the universe will be reborn.
The problem is, you're not actually alone. Lacking any other purpose to exist, knowing nothing else matters, being just like you want to recreate the bang themselves. But you can't let them. It's not about a search of glory - no one will know what happened here. It's about not dying in vein. Everyone will die if the bang is recreated, but only the creator will die knowing his death meant something.

No idea when I'm going to create this game, but one day I will.

Natural selection

[regarding the previous post]
So I haven't finished it in three hours. instead I've revamped the player-awareness model of the enemy brains, added a much-needed pause feature, some debug-mode options, and more detailed level-settings. But no cover formation.
Now, however, I came up with some new ideas for the ol' fella, ideas which make it actually interesting to code and play. It's nice to see how not-so-good ideas are naturally kept away from the game since I can't get myself to code them.

Microcosmos - Cover Formation

ok, so coding this part isn't particularly fun, interesting, or challenging. In fact, in a perfect world I would have had midget-slaves to do it for me. But this is [hold on to something] not a perfect world, and I've been postponing this for 2 weeks. So now I'm gonna get to work, damn it, finish it in three hours, and get back here to write about how I failed.