Games for 2011?

Well here we are in 2011. I’d like to say I have big plans for writing some retro games this year but I bet I won’t have much in the way of free time. For years now I’ve been wanting to rewrite Virgin Atlantic Challenge, the game I wrote for the Spectrum at least 25 years ago. I’d like to do it with proper 3D models but that looks to be a beast of a project. More likely is my “Dave the dog” game which I started writing in Delphi. I wasn’t happy with the structure of the classes so I may start again but use XNA and the .net framework. Starting again won’t be as bad as it sounds as a lot of the code I wrote already exists in XNA so no extra work to be done there. The map data and graphics already exist so they too can just slot in. I’d like to get a small demo up and running to get some feedback. Only time will tell how it pans out, so watch this space.

You’ve got no history.......

New years day was spent recovering from the night before. What better place to do this than by watching my local football team play in sub-zero conditions. My local team is Harlow Town who regularly get beaten by Enfield. This year we held them to a 2-2 draw so hopefully next time we’ll beat them.

New years eve down the pub

New years eve outside the White Horse in Newport (in Essex not Wales). It didn’t take long for me to realise that the camera on my phone was not up to the job. Must take a proper camera next year.

Cold day at work

So snow has arrived in the south-east. Why is it that so many drivers don’t have a clue how to drive in these conditions? It was a balmy -11 on my way into work this morning. Lots of snow in the car park, so lots of handbrake turn practice to be had :)

Extreme driving

Another year almost gone so time to make another New Year's resolution. A good one for next year is to put more petrol in the car and not to drive on fumes. A few days ago I drove about 5 miles with my car telling me I had no fuel left. Live live on the edge....

Dodgy haircut

Could this be the new signing for the Grosvenor football team?

The tri-band is up

Saturday saw the full installation of my tri-band V-2000 vertical antenna. I’m hoping that some hefty Rawl bolts and Loctite will keep the antenna vertical and secure. The brackets are galvanised T&Ks and the short mast has a good wall thickness to reduce the chances of bending etc. It’s connected by thirteen meters of military spec coax to reduce losses.

Here are a couple of pictures to show it in its full glory.