Stuff

A reasonably random collection of certain items of interest — written, experimented on, or just enjoyed over the years. From a game or two, through some learning creatures, to the original Thundercats. Have a click-around and explore.

Written in assembly and C/C++ over the final year of my degree, Secession started as an experiment to draw triangles quickly. But once you can draw a triangle you can draw anything, so the sights were raised: a 3D space-flight combat simulator that was both fun and realistic in a way the competition of the time was not. The AI wasn't scripted but fuzzy logic that genuinely reacted to its environment — understanding threats, allies, objectives, damage, hierarchy and mood. The engine could run hundreds of craft at once, from fighters to capital ships, moons and asteroids.

Secession was the ticket to the dream job at the time: a software developer in the games industry. Flibbidy Jibs was an after-hours collaboration crossing platform games with puzzle games. Up to four people could play at once, choosing from different jibs trapped in a machine that dropped blocks from the top of the screen. Some inert, some carrying power-ups. Move the blocks, build, and depress the plunger before the timer runs out. Written in C++ and DirectX, later ported to Windows Mobile, iOS and Android.

Just a bit of fun, Asteroids was my first experiment with — back then — Java applets. It's pretty much classic Asteroids, only you get all your lives at once and the aliens are a little more deadly. More deadly means more points, and more points mean more lives.

Children's TV in the 80s was the best. Lasers had been invented, electronics were getting big, and the main TV channels in England broadcast peerless cool from 3:30pm till 6:00pm — when it was time for the news. Here you'll find He-Man, Thundercats, the A-Team, Bravestarr, CHiPs, Grange Hill and more wonderful memories. Assuming you were alive to have them.

A couple of versions of a foray into genetic programming — these tanks need a long time to run but exhibit learning and behavioural evolution (their brains were the genetically programmed part). And Mr Rice, written in Pascal and assembly, a side-scrolling platformer.

Some of these are old. For those, use DOSBox — an emulator that recreates an MS-DOS environment (sound, input, graphics, even basic networking) complete enough to run many classic DOS games unmodified. Or just play the revived versions right here in your browser as each one comes online.