This one is a bit strange, not really a game so much as a trainer for different bullet hell scenarios. You can find the link to the download page nearly at the bottom of the developers page. I am not sure if this is a kenta cho production or not, but it is built using his bulletML package. Once you get to the download page, you may find that you need some instructing as to where to get the file. Luckily, the2bears has posted a guide to downloading from the vector.co.jp pages. Once you manage to get it downloaded, there is a link in the english readme file to a forum post that explains the basic play mechanics. Enjoy! P.S. you can download a windows version at that same first link. 

OK! please excuse the lack of posting frequency, I have been very busy for the past month. During that time I completed a move with a few of my former roommates into quite the fantastic house. It has been very busy around here, what with the trying to fill up space and whatnot. I just completed setting up an old powerbook as a media center hooked to the t.v. I am sure the setup phase of this project will continue for a while as I add services (fileshare, webserver, etc.) to the computer, but as it stands, we can use it for music and dvds. Also since I last posted, I had a very brief segment on the nbc nightly news. I made a parody video of the "head on" commercial and posted it to youtube, which was subsequently played on the final segment of the news as an example of the "instant parodies" that the original commercial generated. Also since I last posted, I became an actual full-time employee of wall-to-wall studios, which basically means that I have a health plan, but it hopefully means that I have a bit more job security than when I was working for them as a "full time contractor". My position there is quickly moving towards flash developer, which is not a totally bad place to be, flash is a pretty intersting language, shrouded in about 4000 pounds of poor interface (read: I cannot quite comprehend it). OK, I hope that gets you up to speed, I will post some pictures of the new house as soon as I find my digital camera. Update: Here are some pictures of the new house, as promised.

The other night, while surfing on the idevgames forum, I found a number of game frameworks that are made for Ruby. While I don't expect to start writing games in any of these right now, I think that they may become more interesting as the user bases mature. Shattered Ruby - An MVC framework for making games, something along the lines of rubyOnRails (for games!). In fact, I think that the creators presented this package at the RailsConf. In all likelyhood, this one will gain the most steam of all the packages here. Aerosol - Accellerated OpenGL 2D framework. I really like this one because the author went a far way to make the syntax of the language really simple. Gosu - Another 2D OpenGL accellerated framework. This one claims to support FMOD, so there is probably alot of fun options for music in this one, but I have yet to install and try it out, so it is mostly included here for completness. RubyGameCommon and RubyGameShellCommon - the second post in this thread has partial directions for getting these up and running. Seem to be swig wrappers for GameShell and something else, probably the most robust of any of these options, but at the same time, these would need the most work to get a frame for you game up and running in. Even so, this repository is worth downloading just for all the great code that is contained within. I felt pretty great when I got one of these games up and running. If anyone finds any other Ruby game frameworks, feel free to leave them here in the comments.

I just made this little game in processing, I hope you enjoy it. This is the first arcade style game that I have made, other than a pong clone. I used the traer physics library, and I think all in all it is a nice little casual game. The only controls are the left and right arrow keys. pc download (1.5mb) mac download (1.5mb) please leave a comment with your thoughts and suggestions.

I just finished uploading to flickr a batch of comic strips which were created by me and some friends during college. These were recently unearthed by Eli (who needs a website so that I can link him) during a move to the D.C. metropolitian area. If you are having difficulty reading them, be sure to use the "All Sizes" button so that you get an expanded size of the picture. Some of the ones that I enjoy a ton are: a beverage vampire claims another victim, depressed pretzel, flowers and mountainhead, science convention?, and x-rated movie in a toilet. A large number of these comics were created using the WTF method, which is partially documented here. The basic rules of the method are as follows:

1. artist Alpha draws a panel.
2. artist Beta provides text for that panel, and draws the next panel.
3. artist Alpha provides text for prior panel... and so on.

This method was expanded upon to create quite fantastic drinking games, or ways to pass the time as we waited for shows to start, or things to do instead of watching T.V. whilst hanging out. Please do enjoy, and if you make any comics using this method (or just the first panel) please drop a link in the comments.