Announcing Box Stacker, a physics-based puzzle game, new on [Smolpxl](smolpxl.artificialworlds.net/)!  Play now at https://box-stacker.artificialworlds.net/game and join the forum to share and discuss new levels at https://box-stacker.artificialworlds.net See you there!
andybalaam Now • 100%
Not only the right decision, the right reasoning too.
www.twitch.tv
Live coding Rust and Matrix. I'm working on a Matrix bot to supply Arnie quotes, but got distracted adding a Redis back end to matrix-rust-sdk. I stream every week on Monday 14:00 London time (currently UTC+1). Join me! https://www.twitch.tv/andybalaam Or my Owncast instance at https://andybalaam.uk.to Follow me on mastodon @andybalaam@mastodon.social to be reminded about streams, or follow the Owncast instance by clicking Follow at https://andybalaam.uk.to I'm actually away on Monday, so next stream is on 6th June. You can watch the old streams at https://diode.zone/a/andybalaam/
andybalaam Now • 100%
It might be worth considering basing it on Matrix. You'll get a lot of things for free (e.g. auth and identity) and you can create your own dialect on top of the fundamental protocol.
santabike.artificialworlds.net
We have a new Santa-themed game for you. It's a classic side-on bike racer, that you play with exactly one button. We've found it surprisingly addictive, and with a high-score table for each level you can compete against everyone else! Play the game at https://santabike.artificialworlds.net/ and find similar games at https://smolpxl.artificialworlds.net/
andybalaam Now • 100%
One feature that I did add to Smolpxl for this game, and will add to others gradually, is the ability to save your config on the local device. If you give it permission, Tron saves the list of players and their controls for you.
andybalaam Now • 100%
The code is here: https://gitlab.com/smolpxl/tron
smolpxl.gitlab.io
Another retro recreation for you - Tron, a game of tangling lines, and staying alive longer than anyone else. This version allows many players (up to 16 if you can manage it), and is quite pure in its implementation. There are bots to play against, and you can gather your friends around a keyboard to play together. Part of the motivation for writing this game was to test my new smolpxl-remote remote-play system, but this is not enabled yet, so watch this space...
mastodon.social
The new lightcycle game, Tron, is fairly close to a first release.
andybalaam Now • 100%
Is it OK if I mention my own channels?
Andy Balaam's programming videos: https://diode.zone/c/andybalaam_programming
Category Theory by Bartosz Milewski: https://diode.zone/c/category_theory
Gaming: Trials Rising and Trials Fusion: https://peertube.social/accounts/trials/video-channels
andybalaam Now • 100%
That issue: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/721
Previously I tried setting up a couple of chat systems to be a community for [Smolpxl games](https://smolpxl.artificialworlds.net/), but since we are a very small site at the moment, there has been little activity. I think Lemmy will provide a much more useful community because as soon as you arrive here you'll see interesting posts about what is going on, and you can choose where to comment. So, from today, [!smolpxl@lemmy.ml](https://lemmy.ml/c/smolpxl) is the official community page for Smolpxl!
I think Lemmy is great, so I'm making it the official community for my games site [Smolpxl](https://smolpxl.artificialworlds.net/). To do that, I'd like to link to the privacy policy from my own [privacy page](https://smolpxl.artificialworlds.net/privacy.html), but I can't find one. I can find the [code of conduct](https://dev.lemmy.ml/docs/en/code_of_conduct.html) but that doesn't mention privacy.
andybalaam Now • 100%
I think this sounds possible. If you don't use a Box<> or similar container (and instead using something like a dyn trait), you know that the compiler knows the real size of the instance you are passing, so no dynamic polymorphism is being used.
If you post some code here, someone might be able to suggest a Rustish way of doing it?
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/71671 > Today I released a new game on Smolpxl - Rightwaves. > > Play it here: https://smolpxl.gitlab.io/rightwaves/ > > Rightwaves is a sideways-scrolling shooter with pixel-art graphics, modelled on the classic game R-Type. > > It is fiendishly difficult, but a lot of fun. If you do manage to complete it, you can take on the additional challenge of firing as few shots as possible to achieve the maximum score. > > Rightwaves is, of course, Free/Open Source software and you can contribute to the source code at https://gitlab.com/smolpxl/rightwaves > > Enjoy!
Today I released a new game on Smolpxl - Rightwaves. Play it here: https://smolpxl.gitlab.io/rightwaves/ Rightwaves is a sideways-scrolling shooter with pixel-art graphics, modelled on the classic game R-Type. It is fiendishly difficult, but a lot of fun. If you do manage to complete it, you can take on the additional challenge of firing as few shots as possible to achieve the maximum score. Rightwaves is, of course, Free/Open Source software and you can contribute to the source code at https://gitlab.com/smolpxl/rightwaves Enjoy!
[Rightwaves](https://gitlab.com/smolpxl/rightwaves) is coming along nicely. I plan to release it when one whole level is ready, which is going to be fairly soon. Given that it seems pretty hard, that should keep some people happy for a while... Other than finishing off the boss, I also need to work on details like lives, restarts etc. I am thinking the replay feature will be used to pretty up the title screen for now, and later I may allow uploading and sharing replays with other people. An interesting challenge in this game will be to complete the level while firing the fewest possible shots.
diode.zone
I'm cleaning audio and reposting (with permission) these amazing videos on Category Theory for Programmers by Bartosz Milewski.
lemmy.ml
Rightwaves, my tribute to R-Type, is coming on nicely.  It's a sideways-scrolling shoot-em up with pixel graphics and pixel-perfect collision detection. It's somewhat playable at the moment, but I tend to mess about with start positions from time to time. Recent features include a diagonal lasers upgrade, and alien guns stuck to the top and bottom of the scenery. In order to fix a bug recently, I introduced a secret "action replay" mode, which I hope to turn into a real feature in future releases. For now, pressing Z toggles a freeze-frame modes which you can navigate using the left and right arrow keys. Still to do: the rest of the level (including the famous red tailed alien at the end), and game mechanics like lives and restarts. Help out here: https://gitlab.com/smolpxl/rightwaves
andybalaam Now • 100%
I had always thought it looked cool, and tried to play a couple of times, but when I really started playing was when a friend at work agreed to play with me every day (about 2008 I guess). It was intense, but really fun. Now I play mostly online on Dragon Go Server, and look forward to in-person games again one day...
andybalaam Now • 100%
For more news and details on Smolpxl development, follow https://mastodon.social/@andybalaam on Mastodon.
Add a comment here to encourage us to work on what you would like to see in Smolpxl. Here's a selection of our TODO list, but feel free to suggest other things: * New games (just completed [Rightwaves](https://gitlab.com/smolpxl/rightwaves)) * Multiplayer games * More levels for [Spring](https://smolpxl.gitlab.io/smolpxl/spring/) or other games * ~~Make most of the games work on mobile (touch buttons)~~ (done) * Global high score table support for [Spring](https://smolpxl.gitlab.io/smolpxl/spring/) and [Eat Apples Quick](https://smolpxl.gitlab.io/eat-apples-quick/) (and others?) What would you like to see next?
The Smolpxl games count how many times each game is played. (Anonymously, of course.) I run a Grafana instance that illustrates how popular different games are. The graph shows plays per day for various games. My main conclusion so far is that not many people are playing games on Smolpxl! Other than that, I think I see that Spring is the most popular game, and cross-the-road has a consistent following. Let's work together to write more and better games, and attract more people!
andybalaam Now • 100%
220 lines of code: short enough to be fairly easy to contribute to?
smolpxl.gitlab.io
I always enjoyed playing Heli, and even wrote [Gnome Attacks](http://gnomeattacks.sourceforge.net/) in tribute many years ago. I knocked up a very quick version for Smolpxl, but it doesn't seem much fun to me. What am I missing? Maybe it just needs graphics, but the gameplay seems off somehow. You can see the code and help improve it at https://gitlab.com/smolpxl/smolpxl/-/blob/master/public/heli/game.js You can play Heli on [Smolpxl Games](https://smolpxl.artificialworlds.net/).
smolpxl.gitlab.io
A classic, implemented the way I like it. Have a go at Snake - what is your high score? Play on [Smolpxl games](https://smolpxl.artificialworlds.net/).
andybalaam Now • 100%
This is web-based - works on Firefox and Chrome on Windows, Linux and Android. Hopefully other platforms too.
gitlab.com
I've just extracted my work-in-progress [Smolpxl](https://smolpxl.artificialworlds.net/) game to its own repo. Rightwaves is a sideways scrolling shooter inspired by R-Type. The game is working - now I need to create at least one decent level.
andybalaam.gitlab.io
Navigate an accelerating ship through shrinking tunnels! Designed for a smooth framerate and high-precision collision detection, Tunnel is a satisfying Angry Birds-style survival game.  Play Tunnel on [Smolpxl Games](https://smolpxl.artificialworlds.net/)
andybalaam Now • 100%
Controls are laid out like arrow keys, they change to meaningful names if you use touch, and they can be minimised if they take up too much screen.
andybalaam Now • 100%
After some feedback, I've made some updates:
andybalaam Now • 100%
Wow, thanks for becoming the first ever patron!
andybalaam Now • 100%
Awesome! I've been following with interest the work on speeding up the compiler itself e.g. https://blog.mozilla.org/nnethercote/2020/04/24/how-to-speed-up-the-rust-compiler-in-2020/