Vampire Castle - Preview Release

Regular readers will have noticed I've been busy with other software projects and ignoring my Nintendo DS project "The Fruit Machine - Vampire Castle". Motivation and relative difficulty* to other software projects I've worked on have meant that this stopped development after I implemented a generic(ish) Fruit Machine framework and the part of the initial reference game "Vampire Castle".

Today I'll be restarting development on this project and to show good faith I've released the existing compiled binary and set up a sub project on this blog.

The current preview software is really a tech demo (hopefully with a commercial feel), but behind the scenes for developers there is a large amount of reusable framework implemented that isn't yet being fully utilised by Vampire Castle. This should make it easier for other developers to enhance/update/build on for their own fruit machines (it was my intention to write and include multiple machines but as I'm not a graphics artist the graphics and sound work wears me out very fast so I won't be doing this - at least initially).

What you'll find in this preview

- Intro screens
- Working reels and touchscreen actions
- Music and sound (sampled locally!)
- Working trails
- Rumble pack support

* Most of my time was spent on sound samples, graphics and QAing existing code for memory leaks - C++ is my third most used language thus I'm just an average developer at it :)

Video:
You Tube Video (doesn't do the demo justice)

Downloads:
Download Vampire Castle Preview NDS
C++ source code will be available on the official release date.

Aerofoil 1.5.0_02 Out

Sorry all - I rejigged the installer for 1.5.0_01 to change shortcut names and add a reconfiguration option to the Windows start menu and accidentally deleted the line to copy the readme.txt, this fixes that bug :(

Changes in 1.5.0_02

No code changes in this release just an installer bug fix to ensure the readme.txt is copied by the installer (which had caused a broken Windows shortcut icon).

Downloads

Download Aerofoil 1.5.0_02 Installer

Download Aerofoil 1.5.0_02 Source Code (C++)

FollowMe 1.2 - Free Java ME GPS Tracking Software

FollowMe 1.2 Free Open Source GPS tracking software for MIDP 2.0+ phones

UPDATE: Links posted

FollowMe is the new name for Silent Software's LocateMe, this small (45K) application requires a mobile phone with an integrated GPS or a separate Bluetooth GPS and will show you the direction to given locations ("targets") without maps, using a pulsing direction arrow. You can request the location of other FollowMe users by text message, send your own position, or just simply save locations ("targets") for directions back to them later. Targets can even later be imported into Google Earth or Maps.

The Features

• "Target" other FollowMe users' positions via a text message
• Save multiple locations (targets "waypoints") with names (NEW for 1.2)
• Stores your targets as Google Earth/Maps KML (NEW for 1.2)
• Send your current position to other FollowMe users via text message
• Connects to any mobile phone integrated GPS or Bluetooth GPS
• View all the satellites around you on a "radar" style view
• Display RAW GPS data (suitable for testing)
• Complete integrated GPS support (some features may not be available depending on phone GPS capability).

For developers the fully commented source code provides

• Design patterns, i.e. lazy initialization, command, strategy patterns
• An example of a 2 tier system
• How to use PushRegistry and File Connector (JSR 118)
• How to use the Record Store (JSR 118)
• How to use Bluetooth (JSR 82)
• How to use Text Messaging (JSR 120)
• How to use the PIM (and hack to minimise the security notices - JSR 75)
• How to use the Location Based API (JSR 179 - Nokia lapi.jar included for use on non GPS integrated phones)
• How to use simple graphics (not using a Game Canvas however)
• How to multi thread effectively
• How to process raw NMEA GPS data
• Basic usage of the NanoXML parser
• Basic understanding of graphical and GPS trigonometry

Known Issues

• The application is not security signed (this costs money!), so you will be shown numerous security popups when you start it.
• As your phone is not a compass the direction target arrow will only point to the correct direction once you start walking, and the phone can determine which way relative to North you are going, i.e. when you are stood still your phone doesn't know which direction you are facing! :) On startup, until the GPS gets an accurate fix, the direction arrow to the target WILL NOT BE SHOWN.
• On first run there can be some delay discovering the Bluetooth devices in busy areas (i.e. it may display "Waiting for GPS..." on first run for some time). This is down to the Bluetooth device discovery picking up a large number of devices and querying them. Once you have located your GPS, future connections to the GPS do not require this discovery period and will be relatively quick.

Compatibility
This software has been tested on Nokia Series 40 3rd edition phones at a minimum resolution of 128x128 pixels and Sun WTK emulator at 240x320. It has also been successfully tested on a Nokia N95 and Nokia 6650 with integrated GPS', and the INQ1 phone with separate Bluetooth GPS.

Downloads
Download for mobile phones with an integrated GPS
Download for mobile phones using a separate Bluetooth GPS
Download FollowMe source code (and full javadoc)

Aerofoil 1.5.0_01 Out

No changes to Aerofoil, just to its installer (About box in Aerofoil still shows "1.5.0").

Changes for 1.5.0_01:

• Added installer options to add a "Configuration" shortcut to the start menu (configuration shortcut starts a copy of the installer for Aerofoil's reconfiguration).
• Added automatic shutdown of Aerofoil on installer run.

These changes should hopefully deal with the concerns raised about the ease of reconfiguring Aerofoil. :)

If you are upgrading from Aerofoil 1.5.0 it is recommended you uninstall Aerofoil 1.5.0 first.

Download Aerofoil 1.5.0_01 Installer

Download Aerofoil 1.5.0_01 Source Code (C++)

Image to ZX Spec Tutorial

I've put out a YouTube video tutorial on using Image to ZX Spec (app download can be found on the links) showing how I made the ZX Spectrum "Little Shop of Horrors" slideshow and explaining all of Image to ZX Spec's settings.

Watch the Image to ZX Spec tutorial