rroller 0.1.0 released
Way back in 2001 I was in the third year of my Computer Engineering degree, and one of the better courses that year was on network programming. The lectures were kinda lame- I don’t need someone to explain to me how to use the socket API- but the course textbook was W Richard Stevens’ classic Unix Network Programming, Vol 1. Cool! Unlike most textbooks, this was much used in the first couple of jobs I had after uni.
Also cool was the major assignment we had to complete for the course. I don’t remember the exact requirements, but I think it boiled down to “write a program that uses TCP/IP”. Around the same time I’d stumbled across Jeff Lander’s demo billiards game that accompanied his article in the September 1999 issue of Game Developer Magazine. I and a few other guys hacked some very dodgy multiplayer networking into it. There were still only two balls in the game (it’s just an example, remember) but the networking worked well enough for a 2 minute demo in front of the lecturer so I think we got pretty good marks.
I recall the project being a great learning experience as one of the guys in the group was Simon Ratner, a very smart guy and great programmer and I certainly picked up a few things by comparing the code I wrote and the code he wrote to replace it.
After recovering from the semester I started thinking it would be fun to write a proper pool game with advanced features like 3D physics and more than two balls. I made a start on the physics code using the techniques described in the CMU lecture notes on physically based modeling, but abandoned the project in early 2002.
A few months ago I thought it would be worth putting together whatever I had and releasing it as a GPL physics demo- no pool game yet unfortunately. This ended up taking longer than the original work in 2002, but at least I have something to show for it. I’ve put up some screenshots, tarballs and RPMs here.
Writing rroller was fun, but it’s going to be the last totally useless coding side-project I do. The next one will be more ambitious and hopefully good for more than keeping me amused on Sunday afternoons.
