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February 2, 2006 - One of those Chapters

First of all I would like to apologize to the one person who did in fact vote that they were new to the site. I didn't get your vote until after I posted the site. Speaking of voting, this week's vote is not getting very much attention, which means that if people don't start voting over the next couple of days, the vote may be cancelled (with apologies to the few people who did bother to vote). I am sure many of you are expecting an open source release, but instead, I present to you the second chapter of Making One of those Weeks. I was actually finished earlier this week but couldn't decide how to do the html. As the book was started in the planned look for the site, I figured I would keep that look and post the new chapters in the future format that this site will have. Those who are curious about what the site will look like in April, feel free to read the chapter and email me any comments.

February 5, 2006 - Vote...or I will!

While I didn't get enough votes to make such a critical decision as last's weeks question presented, the results from that poll have been posted. I will revisit the issue again in the future, when hopefully there will be a larger number of votes. As a project slot opened up last week (see February 2nd), this week's vote will be for the replacement project. It doesn't matter how many people vote for these, as long as there is at least one vote. If there isn't a vote, I will vote.

Vote Choice	% of Vote	Adjusted %
Darts [+24%] - Adding new game modes	50	74
Java Game Development Chapter 5 [+0%]	17	17
Making One of those Weeks Chapter 3 [+10%]	17	27
Modern Cribbage [+3%]	17	20

February 9, 2006 - Tanks Again

This was not the game I was originally planning to release today, but I just haven't been working on the game I wanted to have finished for today so it is not ready yet. I suppose that I could have released a single player version of Classic Cribbage, but as I am in the progress of writing AI code for that game, it is by my definition an Alpha release, so I am not too sure if I want to release alpha versions of games (though some plans I have for sunday may leave that decision up to the visitors who actually vote but you will have to wait until sunday to find out what the heck I am talking about). That only leaves one project, which means that this week's game is the Open Source Release of Modern Tank Battle!

February 12, 2006 - Be careful what you wish for

A few of you actually emailed me about why you think I am not getting as many votes as I would like. One interesting point that I wasn't thinking about when I started the polls was pointed out to me. Basically the complaint was that the polls were for projects, meaning that the winning game may not actually appear until months after it won. While that may be obvious, the point is that people are basically impatient and want things right away. I don't think that explaining that the site (and the games on the site) is created in my spare time (currently very little) helps. So, for the next few week I am going to try something different (don't worry, I am still going to be working on all the projects that you voted for). Instead of voting for which project you want me to work on, you will be voting for which game is to be released on thursday!

Vote Choice	% of Vote	Adjusted %
Darts - 501 mode beta	43	43
Classic Cribbage alpha (two player only)	29	29
Classic Tanks for the Memory Open Source Release	14	14
One of those Weeks Episode 3 Open Source Release	14	14

February 16, 2006 - Pointed Results

My first game release vote is now over. Sunday will be another game vote, at which point I will announce which game is replacing the winning Darts 501 mode winner. For my test, I am thinking that the next three or four sunday's will be votes for games and then I will have a vote to decide if my visitors prefer voting for the game to be released or voting for the project that I should work on. The Winning game is a beta of darts that has the 501 game play mode added. I have another two game play modes planned for darts, and want to rework the AI so that it play's a bit more randomly (right now you are playing against a very simple canned opponent).

February 19, 2006 - One of those Polls

At long last, One of those Weeks episode 15 is ready to be added to my next release poll. As the series is very story driven, having an alpha or beta version is not really practical, so only final releases of the series will be added to the vote. That said, with the making of book and open source releases of episodes, I should always be able to have at least one release related to One of those Weeks in the poll. So, without any further words, which game should be released on February 23?

Vote Choice	% of Vote	Adjusted %
One of those Weeks Episode 15	100	100
Classic Cribbage alpha (two player only) [+7]	0	7
Classic Tanks for the Memory Open Source Release [+4]	0	4
One of those Weeks Episode 3 Open Source Release [+4]	0	4

February 23, 2006 - The beast awaits

Even after removing the votes from a person who decided to vote multiple times, the result of Sunday's poll is still the same. This week's game is the fifteenth episode of One of those Weeks where I introduce the player to a new character. Yes, Mr. Puck's Former Guardian is at last revealed. Sunday will be another vote, though I am not sure what the replacement game or article will be (I have a few days to work on what I want to add to the list, but if that proves to be not enough time then I will go with a filler article I've had ready for a while but have never released). Come back on Sunday to vote.

February 26, 2006 - No point

I wanted to add Darts 1001 mode to the list of choices for this thursday's release but the new ai is still a bit too quirky. This means that I am going to have to go into my filler material for the fourth entry to this week's poll. As part of my plans to open source Mr. Holeman, I put together a strategy guide for all five of the official sets. This week's entry is the strategy guide for the first set of Holeman levels (I don't count the tutorial set). So with that said, please let me know what you want me to release on thursday.

Vote Choice	% of Vote	Adjusted %
Holeman Strategy Guide - set 1 [0%]	42	42
Classic Cribbage alpha (two player only) [+12%]	25	37
Classic Tanks for the Memory Open Source Release [+9%]	17	26
One of those Weeks Episode 3 Open Source Release [+9%]	17	26