With Peter's Picross Beta 2 reached just today, I've created a downloads directory specifically for custom puzzles.  You can come here to find user-generated puzzles, as well as packs put out from me from time to time.  If you want to submit your own puzzle or puzzle set, please do so under the 68k Cross-Platform platform, with "Peter's Picross Puzzles" as the category.  All uploads of this type need to be in 7-zip format.  I look forward to new puzzles!

Hi all!  After a short hiatus, I'm back to the site and I've reworked the comment system.  Although there are no noticeable changes from the frontend, the organization is much nicer, and I can now easily backup the entire archive of contents.

In other news, I am very close to a full release of Peter's Picross.  Once I get an especially nasty bug out of the way and finish the PC level editor, which is almost complete, the program should be ready to release to ticalc.  In between coding for the game and the website, I've also been spending hours playing the original Mario's Picross in order to recreate the puzzles found in the original title for the calculator port.  I plan to include at least 64 puzzles in the full release.  There's also a place where players can go to download puzzles from the community.  I'll update the project page for Picross as soon as the release is ready.

Peter's Picross is now in Beta verison.  You can download the beta release from its project page.  Anyone interested in beta-testing, please contact me!

Due to lack of interest, the Developer of the Month/Developer Spotlight feature has been discontinued.  I really have no interest in writing that specific feature anymore.  However, in finding the interviews to be particularly interesting, I've decided to keep those around.  Recently, I interviewed Michael Vincent, news editor at Ticalc.org.  You can read the interview here.  Enjoy, and please look forward to more interviews and other articles to come!

Edit:

There's a new poll.  Read, vote, discuss (in that order).

Peter's Picross is almost at beta version, and accordingly I'm going to be looking for a few people to beta-test the program and give me feedback.  If you're interested, please contact me (contact info here).  Beta-testers will have their name in the final program under credits.  You can keep up to date with the project at it's project page, and my blog for more frequent updates.

I just created a site project for my new calculator project, Peter's Picross.  You can look forward to frequent updates to this project, as I'll be working on it a lot with plans to finish it before the spring.

Also, the "Developer of the Month" article feature has now become the "Developer Spotlight" feature, thereby releasing me from any monthly obligation.   I plan on continuing the series soon with another member of the calculator community.

The downloads section of the site is now fully functional!  This includes uploading and updating files for members, and a whole slew of stats for files and their authors.  Also, users can now comment on files on their respective file page.

In other news, I've started my Sonic TI project back up, so hopefully I'll make some good progress with a better-planned start and be able to get some content up on the project page.  Spread the word, and happy downloading.

Due to the lack of time around this busy time for me, there is no Developer of the Month for September.   However, I'm going to be playing and reviewing the new Castlevania release for the 82, 83, and 83+, so you can look forward to a review going up soon.  I expect to continue Developer of the Month for October, but keep in mind that it may not always be possible to contact a worthy recipient on a monthly basis.  I do however hope to contact some big names in the community, and perhaps some names that haven't been heard for a while.  Between this work, the Downloads section should be completed sometime as well (it's functional, but not fully).  That's it!

The third installment of the DOTM feature is up, and viewable here.  Enjoy!

As a note, I've added this month's interview, and both previous interviews to the "Interviews" section of Articles.  They'll be archived there for reading in addition to the main DOTM article.

Also, since I haven't done so yet, I'd very much like to thanks Tyler C. for hosting this website, so here it goes: Thanks!

Kerm Martian has just released a remake of the PC game Invalid Tangram.  I've written a game review for it, which can be viewed here.  Also, the downloads archive is functional, so feel free to upload any files you think are worthy!

Note: Due to a huge mistake on my part, I've lost the last four news items.  All the others are in tact, and I'm going to be careful not to let that happen again.

I've just gotten the theme switcher up on the site, meaning that you can change the visual theme of the website to your preference.  So far, selectable themes include the default (black&blue), a minimalistic theme (Lynx), and a funny classic theme (Nostalgia).  I plan to add a few more stylish themes in the next few days.  Members can access the theme switcher from the account settings page, and the preference is stored in the user account.  The next task to be done is getting a downloads archive system up, while finishing up the PM box.  Maybe soon there will actually be a reason for people to sign up on the site.   I eventually hope to code a forum for the site, but PHP scripting is time-consuming, and there's still other projects to be coded...

A lot has been done since the last news post, including a new "Articles" section of the site.  The first article is for the Developer of the Month, a monthly feature.  Members have the ability to comment on articles using the same comment system used with polls.  Also new to the site is a PM system, accessible from the member profile page.  The functionality is still limited, so I'll be working on it.

Last night, I finished the poll system on the site.  If you are registered with the site (sign up here) you can voice your opinion through a vote, then comment on the topic.  The home page always displays the newest poll, and a list of all polls can be viewed here.

Continuing work on the site, I've added several coding projects under the "Projects" section (really? :P).  Each project can have screenshots and downloads associated with it, as well as various information about the program.  All that's left to add is a related link database for projects.  The next focus on the site will be finishing the poll system and getting Downloads up for users to contribute, with a focus on quality of programs.

My latest project is an audio lib being developed for use in games.  Over the summer, I plan to continue work on the lib, but more importantly to finish Pong68k, including a general clean up of gameplay and implementation of internet play.  I also plan to release Dance Crazy! in a more playable and finished form.

After months of work on and off, I've finally finished the Projects section.  By navigating to the Projects page, you can select a project, and view detailed information about its development.

You can also look at screenshots and download any associated files, including project releases, and "bleeding edge" nightly builds.  Now perhaps I'll be able to concentrate a bit more on the actual projects.  Also if you haven't noticed, I've created a poll system, where members can view a list of all the polls, vote on the latest one on the home page, and discuss the poll topics after voting in the new message-posting system.  This is almost complete.  In addition to these two big changes, an Articles section is planned, where site staff can post things like editorials and calculator-related game reviews.  I have a "Developer of the Month" interview planned for this section.  Downloads and member profiles are coming.

The Projects section is nearly done (I just need to finish the project index), so you can expect to see several projects appear over the next few days.  At each project page, you'll be able to get the most current download available for a given project, access old downloads, and view information and screenshots about the project.  After a project is completed, it will migrate to the Downloads area (which is yet to be created...) to join other site downloads and user-contributed downloads.

I have recently encountered an issue with the latest GCC release for Linux.  After referencing a wild pointer, my built program crashed at runtime.  The reason? "Segregation Fault," according to Bash.  Why didn't GCC warn be about this during compilation?  I am the most politically-correct person I know, and certainly not a racist, so please GCC, stop segregating my code.  I can only hope to see the day where an int and a float can occupy concurrent space in a struct!

I've created a set of routines for the use of rendering polygons and 3D models in wireframe (no solid faces).  Models are rendered at a respectable speed, with effects such as scaling, rotation and camera panning.  The program is available for download from ticalc.org (download here).  I'm going to be working a lot now on getting projects and downloads up on the site, so I can give my projects a real home.

Pong68k has recently been awarded 3rd place in TI-Freakware's first programming contest.  Until I get the downloads system working on the site, I won't have the program online, but feel free to contact me if you want to try it.  The game is still under heavy development, with multiplayer needing serious fixes, and internet play still null.  I extend a big thanks to all the judges who awarded my program, and all the users on #tigcc for their help.

Over the summer, I started a new project called Pong68k.  The game is a Pong clone with many features, such as powerups and different game modes.  Game modes include single-player against AI of different skill levels and local multiplayer, with internet multiplayer in the works.  I plan to build a game server so people who don't have a friend to play with P2P can be matched with an opponent online.  There is still much work to be done on the game, namely the implementation of multiplayer game modes.  Once the Projects section is up, the project will be available for download.

Over the summer, I had been experimenting with calculator networking over the internet.  On 2006-08-18 at 23:10:19 EST, the first (as far as I know) message, "Hi Kevin",  was successfully sent from my TI-89 to Kevin Kofler's through the internet.  The system used a client and server program for each end, PC and calc.  I am now able to share this out-of-date news now that I can actually post it.  With the initial feat done, I am planning to integrate remote communications into my next calculator game release, which under current circumstances I am not allowed to talk about.  I plan to release real-time internet calculator gaming possibilities, as well as a possible networking API.

This has been a busy time for the site.  Most notably, I've moved to a new server (no more second-level domain ).  I've also been doing a lot of work on the site.  I am posting this news item through the new news system, just completed tonight after a lot of work.  You may notice a login/status area at the top-right of the site, which is part of the new member integration I've been working on.  Currently, you can create an account and log in and out, although that is not of much use quite yet.  In addition, I've created a web scripts database and an admin panel, with a downloads archive made of user-contributed and first-party software next on the hitlist.  So enjoy, and stay tuned for more, hopefully shorter news.