Let a billion videogames bloom

Hello, everyone! With autumn coming, and site updates in a lull, it's time to take stock of potential projects to tackle. Obvious choices are:

• reboot Adventure Prompt;
• write a third article in my series on tiny interpreters;
• resume work on my exploration game, that I've set aside with the map half-drawn sometime in spring.

Got other plans too, but those aren't related to games, so let's see what's actually going on mid-month. For one thing, Prince of Persia is getting a remake. No, not the original, but Sands of Time. Turns out, it's already 17 years old. Yikes! Where's my cane? On a different note, Nvidia is buying ARM (for a mindboggling sum, too). Well, better them than some venture capital firm, arguably. Though by now lack of competition in computer hardware is becoming a serious problem. Oh well, we're overdue for a return to more low-tech alternatives anyway.

As for links, for once I have a good handful, but no commentary at all again:

• a history of The Nintendo Famicom Clone Craze that barely failed to make the cut last time;
• The Making of Dune II
• and from the same source, Arcade Perfect: how Sega brought the Mega Drive into the mainstream;
• then an answer to the question of, What does a Level Designer in games do?
• and speaking of that, a write-up on Building Cogmind's Ambient Soundscape; warning, long read and graphics-heavy!

But this is getting an awkward length, neither here nor there, so enjoy and see you at the end of the month!

---