A quick update to let readers of this blog know that I have finished adding the six new projects (and depreciating the story project) so I am close to finished this year's overhaul. What is left is to add directory links to all of the game pages. Once that work is done, I am going to start filling out the project pages with additional information to make it clear how people interested in working on the projects (if there is anybody) can participate in the project. I also want to clean up all the documentation for all of the games, but that is something that will be done over a much longer period of time. In fact, this will probably done at the same time as new releases for a game is made. Code wise is kind of interesting at the moment.

When Java first came out I was quite excited. My vision was that people would be able to go to a site (such as BlazingGames.com) and play games right on the site. The games would work no matter what type of computer they had and there could even be set-top boxes that would let people browse online and play games. My vision hasn't quite come to pass. Java, while a nicer language than C++, just didn't really evolve much on the client side. This was largely due to a certain monopoly trying to protect their own interests, but the net effect is that Java is not as widely supported or as cross platform as I would like. Now that it is open source, this may change, but in the short term I am going to be focusing on Flash for my web game development. If Open Source Java takes off, I might return to the fold but Ultimate Retro Project is the last Java project that I am working on at the moment.

Is Flash going to be any different? This is a very big question. Now that Microsoft has their eyes on Adobe, things could go badly for Adobe if they make any big mistakes. The big thing that they have on their side is Microsoft not wanting to be cross platform or open. Yes, there is an open version of Microsoft's WPF/E, but the only element that would make me consider switching to it (3D) is not include and I am kind of stubborn about this cross-platform requirement. With no big reason to switch (though it looks like it would be a fairly simple transition) I will stick with what I know and re-evaluate the situation in a couple of years.

I have been following Flash with some interest since Flash 3, and have been actively programming Flash since Flash 6 (thanks to the introduction of Action Script in Flash 5). ActionScript, the language used in Flash, has now reached version 3 which is pretty much a full blown object oriented programming language. Thanks to the Flex 2 SDK, it is even possible to develop Flash programs for free. Of course, the thing that makes flash nice to work with is the animation abilities, and that is something you really need a tool to do properly. Flash 8 was the last version of Flash to use ActionScript 2, so I was quite excited when I found out March 27th that Flash CS3 was about to be released. In fact, I pre-ordered my copy of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium edition. Thankfully I am eligible for the upgrade price as it is a very expensive product which I could not afford if I had to pay the regular price of US$1,599.