Intel Build of Black Cube
An Intel build of Black Cube has been released. This makes the game much more efficient on Intel-based Macs (almost every Mac sold from 2006 onwards.) Other minor changes:
- fixed a problem that could cause sounds not to play
- updated contact information
The original PPC build of Black Cube is still available for older Macs.
Black Cube Postmortem Available Once More
Back in 2002 I wrote a short postmortem analysis of my game Black Cube. For quite a while the uDevGames contest postmortems were unavailable at the iDevGames website, and even now some of the older ones are missing pictures or proper credits, but Black Cube's at least has been restored.
Even the incomplete articles can be worth a look. I remember learning for the first time about SWIG and using Python as a game scripting language from the Kiki the Nanobot postmortem. And fans of the Freeverse game Kill Monty might get a kick out of the Kill Dr. Cote postmortem. At a minimum, anyone entering a game development contest in the future might want to read a bunch of these to see the ways each developer handled the time pressure, and how the successful ones were able to reach the finish line with something resembling a fun and complete game. (Some success factors I've noticed over the years: teams with well-defined divisions of labor; passion for their game; scope control; and plenty of play-testing and feedback from the community.)
Black Cube version 1.0.2 released
Version 1.0.2 now available for download! Improvements include: uses less CPU, less overlap between the board and text, a free rotation mode, and you can quit from the dock.
Black Cube post-mortem at iDevGames
My post-mortem of Black Cube, an analysis of what went right and wrong during its development, is now up at iDevGames.
Black Cube wins 2nd place for Originality in uDevGame 2002
Black Cube won 2nd prize in uDevGame for Originality! My thanks to everyone who took the time to rate it and the other uDevGame entries.