The Software Alchemist

I just published a new game. Download it for free here:

I had a bit of an issue when first starting an Android Studio project for wearables. The initial setup went really smoothly, File > New Project > Click to win. However the next bit isn’t so great. Click on the layout xml file and instead of seeing the generated default activity layout, you see this:

Getting started with a new hardware technology always presents a bit of a catch-22 situation. You want to use the technology that you’re developing for, but you don’t really want to commit to buying one until you’ve tried developing for it. I’m going to try and do some Android Wear development without actually having a smart watch to begin with (I’m holding out for the successor to the Moto 360, which is likely to come out later this year).

Recently, Apple acquired TestFlight, a service for deploying beta versions of iOS apps without going through the difficult Apple-approved process using Xcode. Since the aquisition, Apple have changed the TestFlight process to use iTunes and Xcode, and now it makes you want to tear your hair out is “easy to do”, the documentation even says so!.

It’s release time again!

Another post with a technical / pedagogical bent!

The basic building blocks of Adrift are, well, blocks! The piles of blocks which make up the island are generated using Perlin noise which is a technique that has been discussed and explained many, many times (Here, for example is one nice tutorial). However, as the technique is so integral to Adrift, I’ll give a quick rundown here.

A floating, rotating island is very pretty. But, we need more than that for a game. Namely, we need a way to navigate over, around and through said island.