PHP quirk: shell commands breaking on Windows
Posted by Peter | Filed under Programming, SLOODLE
I’ve been wrestling with many compatibility quirks in my work on SLOODLE lately, and this one certainly takes the prize. It seems that some perfectly valid shell commands will simply not work when executed from within PHP on Windows.
Read the rest of this entry »
Splitter
Posted by Peter | Filed under Games
“Splitter” is a fascinatingly original casual web-game. The objective is simply to get the little yellow dude to the level exit, but you cannot control him directly. Rather, you need to modify the level in various ways, causing it to dynamically respond, achieving your goal, or foiling your plans.
It’s hard to describe exactly how the gameplay works. Imagine it like other physics sandbox games like “Magic Pen“, but instead of creating stuff to achieve your goal, you are actually splitting it with a knife (hence the name) in very precise ways.
The graphics are simple but pleasant, and the audio is reasonable. The interface works nicely, with a wonderfully simple control scheme… just click and drag where you want to cut, and that’s it. The physics responds nicely in various ways, and makes for a very enjoyable playing experience. Limits on the number of cuts you can make in a given level provide a good challenge.
It’s too late at night for me to go into much further analysis… I suggest you just play this game for yourself… it’s well worth it! 
Magic Pen
Posted by Peter | Filed under Games
I do like a bit of physics modelling… and here’s a kind of dynamic rigid-body game which is pretty good fun:
http://andyslife.org/games/game.php?file=magic-pen.swf
Your objective is to get a ball to one or more flags. You cannot directly manipulate it. Rather, you need to draw convex object with the mouse, each of which becomes a rigid body. You can use fixings and hinges too, but you rely entirely on gravity to provide the motion, which makes it pretty challenging, but a lot of fun.
It’s a Flash game, and it’s nice and slick (presumably unless you draw waaaaay to many objects!). Graphics are a nice kids’ crayon kinda style, which makes it feel more fun. Well worth a try, as it’s a nice casual challenge, albeit a tad infuriating at times!
