Huh, It’s been 5 years since I’ve posted anything here. Didn’t realize that much time has gone by. There have been life events and such in that time. I’m still in Tech. The technology has changed, but not my involvement. I moved out of Web Hosting support and have been doing support for storage arrays. Everything is still Linux-based.

That said, I want to start learning Python again. I know all the basic stuff that is common to all languages. How to print “Hello World”, create logic, and manipulate variables. That seems to be the basis of every online class…

What I want to start learning is how to create things, actual program design, not just how to string commands together. With that in mind, I’m going to try creating a few new implementations of classic games. The design of the games will come before the coding. I plan on creating Project pages that describe the game and the basic rules. The games will fall under three categories for now, Grid, Object, and Story.

Grid games are those that use a two-dimensional grid as a playing field. Tic-Tac-Toe is the obvious example, though Connect-4, MineSweeper, and even Poker Solitaire all fit in this category.

Object games are those that comprise of individual game pieces, that each have properties and methods, where the pieces interact with each other. Years ago, I used to play a lot of online BBS games where you had a space ship that traveled between planets. Each planet would have different natural resources and deficiencies. The goal was to make good trades between those planets for profit. Other players could attack you, and take your trade goads, if your paths crossed, so defense was a goal as well. In this case, the planets would be objects with the resources as properties. Ships would also be object with cargo as properties. Each object would have a method for trading and calculating exchange rates.

Story games are those display a bit of story, then have the player make decisions to progress the story. Some of my favorite include the Zork series, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Leather Goddess of Phobos. Story games do not have to be limited to text. Their main trait is that they are driving a story.

We will see how I progress. It’s hard to find time to study and learn, especially when I have so many other things going on in my life. However, I hope to have new postings here far more often.