Java 7 Released

So finally Java 7 is here. Although not without some issues. Still, I've installed it and I am using it without any problems so far.

Unfortunately from my point of view project Jigsaw didn't make it into the release. I was really looking forward to being able to mess around with modules and using them to get myself motivated to redesign Ancient Power.

Also today Netbeans 7.0.1 has been released to finalise the Java 7 features added in Netbeans 7.0. Which I've also upgraded to with only one issue, Junit library's not being where they should be, but this should be a good time to actually learn about libraries, modules and dependencies in Netbeans projects.

So with both these new toys available I've been doing some work today and hopefully more as this month goes on.

Randomness

So fairly early on into this project I discovered something about java.util.Random, its not random enough. Actually that's wrong, its actually plenty random enough for most simple applications such as the die rolls most computer rpgs simulate. But being a completionist I would need a better algorithm for use in Ancient Power.

A pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) can be measured by two main qualities its execution speed and its period . The period equates to the length of the sequence of numbers that it will produce before it begins repeating it's self.

The one I have decided to use is George Marsaglia's complementary-multiply-with-carry. This has both an extremely large period and, in its complementary implementation, fast execution.

back...?

So I'm back at uni and I'm really enjoying it this time around. It's also gotten me to dust of this old project and consider doing more work on it.

I've been musing over lots of little things relating to computer RPG's, roguelikes and fantasy settings. Jotting stuff down as I play other games, noting what I like and what I would change. I really feel like I want to get a lot of these ideas written down instead of them just rolling around in my head.

So no promises but hopefully I'll be posting some of these thoughts here.

JRuby 1.1.4

A new point release of JRuby is now out and about. Great news for anyone using java to run rails apps and all that sort of enterprise stuff.

Why am I, with my desktop computer game, interested in this? Well I've been looking for a system of storing data in a user editable way but also storing some logic with the data. More on this in a future post.

Check out what's new over here.

I'm particuarly happy to see the java intergration layers getting improved as i get the feeling there will be a fair bit of calling ruby methods from java and vice versa in this system.

Customising Nimbus

Found some great posts about customising the new nimbus look and feel on Jasper Potts blog. Looks like nimbus will not only be a great new face for swing and java on the desktop but also a powerful tool for creating custom ui's. Which is exactly why I have been watching Nimbus's progress with interest.

In one of ancient powers older incarnations I messed around with customising swings venerable metal look and feel with very little success. Making small changes like fonts and colours was easy enough but anything beyond that got really tricky. Nimbus's use of painter objects seems like it will make complex changes much simpler.

First post!

Ok so I'm creating this blog to try and get myself more motivated about trying to finish my long dreamt of goal of writing my own computer game.

But not just any game, a rogue-like, that wonderfully nerdy microcosm of games that use letters and symbols for graphics. Hopefully soon ill make some posts describing the small amount of recent progress I have made and some of the design goals I have for this project.