Morocco downloads

I can't believe the response Morocco is getting. Although after three weeks it has now slipped out of the top 25, it is still currently ranked #36 for the free games and it has an average review rating of 4.3 out of 5. I posted to my Bayou Games site my estimates for the number of downloads, along with information about the next update.

Now available from iTunes!

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can download Morocco here.

Morocco

Sadly, not another vacation post. (Although I'd love to go!) Instead, it's the name I've given to the port of my Othello game to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Othello is a trademark of Mattel in the US and of Anjar in the rest of the world, so I couldn't use it. And my favorite alternative, Iago, has been taken by several other Othello programs. Wanting something slightly original, I went with a name reminiscent of the North African Moors on whom Othello was supposedly based.

You can find more info on my Bayou Games website.

And if you have an iPod or iPod Touch, look for it on iTunes and the iPhone App Store when it opens on July 11th. It's being distributed for free so give it a try and let me know what you think.

Video Games

Two quick items related to my current obsession hobby writing videogames.

First, I've been meaning to mention that I submitted Snowball Fight! to Microsoft's Dream-Build-Play competition. If you want to try it out, you can download the latest version here.

Second, following some links from a commenter on Advice From The Swamp, I ran across the following wonderful list of quotes.

Game Design as a Hobby

Advice From The Swamp

I've decided to create a new blog for sharing information and resources about game programming with Microsoft's XNA Framework. The first post is an introduction to understanding the importance of algorithmic efficiency during the design phase. Part two will be out this weekend and will discuss tools and tips for benchmarking and profiling code after it has been implemented. I plan to add new material every week or so.

Space Invasion

I've been fooling around with Microsoft's new XNA Framework for developing videogames for Windows and the Xbox 360 since they released it last fall. Shortly before Christmas, I finished up a Space Invaders clone. It's pretty sweet playing a game I wrote on my own Xbox!

I finally got around to packaging it up and making it available for download. The package contains an installer for Windows, as well as source code for both Windows and the 360.

Download Space Invasion

Now I'm working on another project for Microsoft's Dream-Build-Play contest. Wish me luck!

Play Othello

Welcome to my new website. Eventually I'll put some of the pictures and other stuff from my old website back online. For now, the only thing of note is the Java version of my Othello game.

I originally wrote this as part of a graduate level Artificial Intelligence class at George Mason University in 1989. That version was written in C for the Atari ST. Around 1993 I ported it to DOS on an IBM PC and later to Windows 95 using Visual C++. I rewrote it in Java in 1998 as a way to learn the language. I updated the Java version to use Swing in 2000.

Unfortunately, the program does not play very well. It can beat most people just because most people also don't play Othello very well. But any competent Othello player can beat it, and there are far better Othello programs available.

If you would like an excellent Othello program, I highly recommend Gunnar Andersson's Zebra. In addition to being one of the best Othello programs in the world, it is free!