Monkey vs. libGDX Box2D Performance On Android
Note: The figures in this post are now out-of-date. I posted an update here. The game I'm working on uses Box2D, or rather a port of Box2DFlash to Monkey that I did. My game's use of Box2D isn't all...
View ArticleWhy Monkey Isn't A Terrible Choice
Psst... this is a big post. I get that you're a busy person avoiding lots of important tasks by reading this blog post. If you're desperate to get on with avoiding those tasks elsewhere I'd suggest at...
View ArticleMonkey Tip: Relative Target Performance
I've previously posted about how Android (at least on my phone) is a platform that presents performance challenges when doing cross-platform development with Monkey*. This is true, but I wanted to post...
View ArticleMonkey Tip - Be Careful Around Boxes
No, this isn't a warehouse safety message about lifting with your legs. Monkey features auto-boxing/unboxing between classes and primitive types. Coders with backgrounds in other OO languages like Java...
View ArticleMonkey Tips - Boxes Caveats Part 2
This is a continuation from Part 1 of my discussion of primitive type boxing in Monkey. In this part I'll get into issues that primarily concern expectations if you're coming from Java or a language...
View ArticleMonkey Tips - Default Types And Implicit Type Conversion
This one is mostly for people new to Monkey and coming from other languages. Here's some Monkey code: Local myVarA = 1 Local myVarB = 1.5 Local myVarC = True If you're like me when I first saw Monkey,...
View Article1D vs 2D Arrays, the Performance Reality
Programmers are generally seen, and like to think of themselves, as logical, rational people. Sometimes we get titles like "software engineer" that flatter us with the implication that we deal in known...
View ArticleTetris In... How Long?
Yes, I know I write very long blog posts. Feel free to skim. There's a playable thingy linked below! The Preamble I've been following Andy Moore's blogging, vlogging, podcasting and social networking...
View ArticleMonkey's Garbage Collection on iOS
Not long ago I finally got around to buying the bits needed for iOS builds: a new iPod Touch, a ridiculously priced block of white plastic that runs OSX and Apple's 99 USD blessing to run my own code...
View ArticleGame Camera Work
My on-off dev schedule has been on again recently and with it I may as well resurrect this neglected blog space. I did a bit of work on the camera for one of my game projects and thought the...
View ArticleF2P, IAP, Micro-transactions and DLC
The news that EA is planning to put micro-transactions into their games has brought the simmering discussion surrounding IAP back to a boil. For many it represents a new offensive on the "core" gaming...
View ArticleGames and the Mundane
Yesterday I had a Twitter back and forth with Rob Fearon, that started from this tweet where he implied that "the mundane" is less represented in games than it was in the past. Feel free to have a...
View ArticleUpdate On Box2D Performance vs. libGDX
A while back I posted a quick performance comparison between my Monkey port of Box2D and libGDX's JNI version. At the time the libGDX version was about twice as fast. Since then I've done a bit of...
View ArticleBoxes: Sneaky Buggers
Last year I wrote at fair length about the hidden dangers of Monkey's auto-boxing: http://pointlessdiversions.blogspot.co.nz/2012_03_01_archive.html You'd think that having spent some time explaining...
View ArticleCassette 50
Sometime now-ish the retroremakes.com Cassette 50 games compo/jam will have a line drawn under it and become a very modest bit of history. It's a tiny event in what has become an endless parade of game...
View ArticleBad Games / Not Games
This post is about some thoughts that have come out of my participation in the retroremakes.com Cassette 50 compo. I've put up a separate post giving the context of that competition here, but a brief...
View ArticleKramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer was written for the retroremakes.com Cassette 50 competition/jam thingy. As that has finally been bundled up and finalised and I've put Kramer vs. Kramer up as my onegameamonth for...
View ArticleOf Blocklists, Groupthink and (tangentially) the Gamergate Thing
Preface: It's been a bit of a horrible time of it in the world of games and games dev for the past few weeks with the whole #gamergate business. I guess it's sadly necessary for me to open this post by...
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