On Milestones

When programming, it helps to have little goals to guide you along the way;for simple projects (like I suspect the server stuff for necklace should be)those goals break down well as:

1. It compiles: code made into object format with no warnings. Apparently all the syntax was correct. (Inevitably I'll find myself back here when I compile with VC++ instead of g++.)
2. It links: there's some sort of simple test program that exercises the code. Here's where I find out that I forgot to write certain functions. (Another way of looking at it is that link errors serve as a to do list.)
3. It works: there's a basic test driver working and things are going swimmingly.
4. It actually works: all the nasty corner cases have been tested (all that I can think of -- I mentally earmark as I'm coding).

I'm currently at the second step, hoping to get to the third eventually.Big systems aren't a cake-walk, and I'm enough of a realist to know that there will be bugs and they will be subtle.

Necklace Net code

I'm chugging along on some network code for necklace. The first release will be about the basic pervasive multiplayer element (i.e. a unified solution database). The next milestone after that is a decent level-sharing mechanism-- not that pasting text to your friends over IM doesn't work or anything.
One reason (among many) that this release has been taking a while is that I'm debating what really constitutes a "similar" level.In the most general sense, it's the graph structure on the pieces and the bitmap of the obstacles -- but I think that finding a canonical form here might well begin to look like graph isomorphism.Not to mention that there is plenty more path to travel here (reflections and rotations of levels are pretty much the same level).Perhaps I should just avoid this slope altogether.

New Necklace Compile

I did a quick compile of necklace version 2343. This one has editable levels (but no randomized levels -- they'll be back). I also improved the graphics (though more work to be done there).
Please download it and give it a try. I'm especially interested in the level editing -- by constraining the pieces to begin in a similar adjacency relationship to that in which they end, am I crippling level design?

Necklace Graphics Upgrades

This past week, I've been concerning my game-programming time (what little there has been) with doing a graphics overhaul on necklace.At present, I've got some shadowing and some refraction, which makes things a bit nicer looking.Next up, particles to indicate desired tangency (instead of those ugly pink lines).
If I continue at this pace, expect a graphically-updated release of necklace around the end of next week.
If you've played the current version of necklace, you'll notice that the level structure has changed significantly.This is because I'm moving to authored, rather than generated, levels.These are more satisfying to me -- though I'm not ruling out bringing back generated levels at some point.