Since I have a new site for freelance, I am re-purposing mikekruk.com just for day-to-day blogging about my life, and web technologies, etc. I also might re-do the design for this site and DEFINITELY will be switching it over to WordPress, because it just is easier that way.. Even though my custom blog admin is pretty sweet ;-)

P.S. Can anyone make me some scratch and sniff business cards?

With AS3, aside from using the updated XMLSocket from AS2, there is actually a brand new Socket class that is strictly used for sending bytes and data types. Since XML serves no purpose to the type of data that needs to be sent/received (in fact i despise using XML for this ), I am re-writing my Socket class for AS3 to work with sending all my data based on header requests and data types.

The main problem I was having with XML was the size of information being sent, and also data was being sent at such a rate, that every now and then XML strings would get chopped in half, in turn making the server spit out a lovely warning about not being able to parse the XML as an object.

By switching to a regular Socket connection, I won't need to parse data at all. The only interpretation that takes place is checking the header being sent which will tell the server/client what to do with the data it has.

And since I have my VPS all setup (forgottendestiny.net and the socket server), once I get this new Socket all setup, I am going to create a register section for the site so that if you don't have a FD account yet, you can make one! And then I will be releasing a demo!!!

It won't be much.. You will be able to move around (path finding), chat with other players, and view your player's stats. But nonetheless, I really feel the need to show everyone my progress, and just how much better this game is looking more so than when I was developing in Visual Basic.

P.S. I'm shooting for tomorrow/Monday ;-)

Goodnight!

I haven't had any real time to sit down and set it all up to my liking, but I will do that when I get a chance. I am excited to setup the current FD server on it, and see exactly how much this connection can take!

I also plan on transferring the FD site onto the VPS also, just for ease of management and having the database on the same server as the site.

As for right now.. I just heard iPhone 2.0 FW was confirmed jailbroken and unlocked, so I sit and wait until they release it for the iPod Touch!

My first working demo includes basic client/server communication which includes on-the-fly policy file parsing for external IPs, user authentication (with existing FD database), movement (walk, run, and now... jump!), and some very basic chat functionality.

After some more speed optimizations, and once I spruce up the chat functionality I will most likely deliver a demo for everyone to try it out, and give me some feedback!

I will be making some updates on the forgotten destiny site, so be sure to watch for updates and the first demo.

In the mean time, enjoy a screenshot

later!

this is like... Zelda meets Super Mario.. meets Friggin' SWEET!

linkage here

Makes me want to bust out my original grey, bulky, gameboy... or my TI-83+

check it out here

With all of the advances with Flash, it seems to be the perfect platform for this type of game. I like to think of Forgotten Destiny as a classic, light weight, fun, and social online experience. Therefore, Flash just might be the best bet!

A couple reasons why I am considering Flash is:

• usability - any OS that has a browser and the latest flash player can take part!
• setup - nothing to install, don't have to worry about updates
• testing - no need to worry about testing across multiple platforms or different versions of platforms with all sorts of different applications installed.
• animations - out of the box, Flash has many tools that make it easy to manipulate graphics, which would speed up development a TON.

There are obviously more pros, but I just don't feel like listing them.. hehe

As far as cons go, the only big one is definitely client/server communication. Flash is slowly making its way to becoming more open with dynamic data communications, and being able to retrieve data from various sources, but it is still somewhat of a pain to setup secure client/server communication.

The image at the top is just a small example of an isometric flash engine that I am playing around with. I will most likely start building onto this engine and hopefully be able to make this happen!

The 3rd possible candidate for developing is.. Java... me no likey.. hahha, I will admit Java has come a long way as far as game development goes, but I still don't like it ;-)

Expect some updates on this project soon.

So if you want to check out what's going on.... take a look! The link is on the right side of the page, can't miss it.

Through the build process for the Saturn Ning, There were a lot of things "requested" that unfortunately Ning wasn't able to offer. That is why I had resort to my hack-ish little friend, Javascript! Lots of customizations went into the site, and if you happen to disable JS, you will surely notice a difference.

Anywho, here is a link to the forum if you wanna check it out: Ning Developer Forum

That totally made my day to actually see MY code up there!

Once I got into the groove of things, I created it's first simple (yet sweet for it's time) layout! which you can see here.

Now, being almost 3 whole years down the line, and with my most recent job as a Web Producer, I really felt the need to spruce up the old personal site a bit. With my even better abilities to write semantic CSS, and use jQuery like a pro, and even have sharper photoshop/design skills, I was mocking up the new design in a matter of one night!

So, after much fiddling of what EXACTLY will go into the side-bar, I am nearing completion of the new re-design, and it is looking hot! There are obviously a few minor things that need to be taken care of.. more testing.. and more testing... then I can be done with the re-design.

So be sure to check back when this bad boy is all finished, and stay tuned for an RSS feed, so all you subscribers can subscribe to my blog!

Everything at the ultrasound place went very well. We got 4 color photos of the ultrasound, and also a DVD of the whole entire session which we watched shortly after at my mom's house.

It was pretty crazy to actually the baby, almost the whole time he was sucking on his FOOT! haha, and we got to see him yawn a few times, and even rub his eyes.. amazing.. I never thought that even before the baby comes out he would be doing baby things!!

This was a great experience, but I think it makes me want to hold my son more than ever.

Here is a photo album of the photos we recieved: Baby Koen Album

But today, I found something... new? I have never seen these before, but it is the REESTER BUNNY!!!!! Just the name made me HAVE to buy it..

"Clean me off another one of them bunnies... I'm gonna EAT it." -Carl

But since there are OTHER applications out there, I am trying out a few others hoping that I will be able to run Forgotten Destiny on something, and then screenshots will soon follow :)

Stay Tuned.

UPDATE

VMWare released an update, which lets the user enable D3D even though it isn't fully supported, so I started up forgottne destiny, and it worked!!! AHHH!!!!I couldn't believe it!

Here is the proof screenshot :)

FD on VMWare Screenshot

I have wanted a MacBook for YEARS.. and it's finally here.. it's super fast, and loepard is AMAZING. I love every bit of it.

Just a few quick specs:

• White MacBook 13.1" screen (the small one :) )
• 2.4Ghz Intel Dual Core 2 Duo
• 160 GB HDD
• 2GB DDR RAM

There are more too... but yeah, they don't matter

Anyways.. here the photo album of the unveiling is still under construction... I am having photo upload problems with my custom admin page.. so I need to get that working, but there are a few up in the album..

MacBook Album

More stuff soon!

I was always hesitant in the past, because I would wonder if I wouldn't enjoy a Mac, and want to go back to PC after awhile, but this is definitely NOT the case... And I actually have to money to be able to afford one!!

So, this coming Monday.. (3 days.. yes i'm counting down) I will make the venture to the Apple Store in Troy to throw down on this great computer. I will also be video taping the adventure, and taking many pictures opening the box and playing around with it, etc. Some of you may think that doing this is silly... but I have always dreamed of owning a Mac for many years.. and it is finally going to happen!

So come check for new blogs on Monday... it will be sweet.