It is perhaps an understatement to say it's been a while since I blogged. As is commonly the case with Microsoft blogs, the reason for going dark is that I left the WPF team almost two years ago for an opportunity I couldn't pass by to join a systems incubation startup. We're a small team with big ambitions, and as you might expect, my role involves the exploration of a ra... continues

I’ve started work again on the Shader Series of XNA Creators Club samples.  I left off with Shader Series 4: Materials and Lights.  I’m working on the documentation for my next sample now, in which I show multiple pass (additive) opaque lighting.  It’s another atomic technique in the arsenal of what every graphics programmer should know, and the visual results are an excellent... continues

After seeing the cools stuff Chris Anderson is doing with Python in his AvPad program, I dicided to take his advice and learn Python. I read an ebook on the flight to Redmond, and today I wrote my first program. It uses IronPython and the .NET framework to make a webspider that searches for mp3s [...]

Yesterday I listed the domains for the design model; today I'll list what they're used for.  In later updates I'll post more specifics on these uses, but for now, I’d just like to scope things.  This list is not final, and there are probably additions as I discover things with the case studies.   What the domain model does: ·         Identi... continues

I’m treating the Domain Model for Game Design like an unproven scientific theory.  The Academy of Arts and Sciences states that a theory must have two properties: 1.       It must be an explanation of a feature supported by experimentation 2.       It must be able to make predictions In this case, my “experiments” are the case ... continues

River’s End is mostly complete.  It’s not much of a game, but it is a very relaxing experience.  It just needs some polish, a few new graphics systems, and a little more content and it’ll be ready to go.  However, I don’t know yet how or if I can distribute it, so understandably, my enthusiasm for the project has waned somewhat. To avoid the issue for my next project, my foc... continues

I haven't updated my blog in forever and I'm probably going to abandon my homebrew static client generated site for something like Mephisto at some point but I haven't had time to make the transition. In the meantime, I'd like to save people some pain and document the steps I have go through to upgrade my Highpoint RocketRaid 2220 on Linux.  I instal... continues

I’m back from GameFest 2007 and I can start to take back parts of my life.  The last 3 months have possibly been the busiest and most stressful of my entire life.  The rewards have been incredible though, and I’m still glowing about the fantastic reception to the XNA Game Studio track. For those of you unfamiliar with the GameFest conference, the details can be found at http://www.xn... continues

All future Paint.NET-related blog posts will now be posted at: http://blog.getpaint.net . If you are currently subscribed to this blog (that is, http://blogs.msdn.com/rickbrew) then I invite you to subscribe to this new one! I will still continue to post here for other topics. Also, you'll see over there that a new beta release is available! http://blog.getpaint.net/2007/05/29/paintnet-v308-beta-i... continues

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134046 2GB of DDR2-667 memory for $86 is very nice! I upgraded my media center PC this last weekend to a Core 2 Duo E4300. I was going to get 1 GB of RAM but the 2 GB kit was so cheap I thought, "why not?" My media center used to have a 3GHz Pentium 4 chip in it, and it was a Prescott so it ran really hot and the fan noise was noti... continues

So I went to install Photoshop CS3 on my Vista x64 box at home, and got this nice error: Internal Error 2739 Gee, thanks for the info. Anyway I searched online for ways to fix this, and they involved running regsvr32.exe on jscript.dll and vbscript.dll. Unfortunately, it didn't work! However, I found someone online who had fixed it: http://davidgardiner.blogspot.com/2007/02/internal-error-2739-o... continues

A few weeks ago they asked me to do an interview with them about Paint.NET, so I thought "Why not?" Anyway they've posted the interview today: http://www.dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showNum=229

Ok so here's a completely new type of post from me. I've pretty much stuck to nerdy topics like Paint.NET, WinForms, and Performance over the last ~3 years. But anyone who knows me personally knows I'm super stoked about the new Nine Inch Nails album, Year Zero. It's hitting stores on April 17th. I've got my pre-order and my lithograph, I went to the listening party in Seattle, etc. etc. Thi... continues

In this update on River's End (previously Rox 3D), I'll be talking about the process by which I arrived at a lighting model for the paper lanterns that feature prominently in my new game.   Early on, I decided I wanted to blur the line between realism and style for this title.  Obviously, any game featuring ghosts and river spirits doesn't really necessitate rigid adherence to the laws o... continues

I have a very limited amount of free time these days, so the total time to date working on this project has been less than 25 hours.  However, I'm very happy with the results so far, and I'm very excited to get all of the new game mechanics implemented. First, the nature of the game has changed dramatically.  I’ve always been peripherally aware of a Japanese folk ritual that involved f... continues

Greetings from GDC!  My involvement has been pretty low key so far, so I’ve had a little time to dedicate to my test game.  I’m using this game as both a learning experience, and as a test application to try various performance techniques and API features.   The refactoring work on Rox is mostly complete, though I’m still determining how to split up may game logic in... continues

I update this blog so infrequently it’s somewhat embarrassing, but I finally think I have something to talk about.  I wanted an informal chronicle of a very simple game I’m working on based off of source and assets from XNA Game Studio Express documentation.   The tale begins about a month ago when David Weller and I were signed up to give some XNA Game Studio Express presentations ... continues

Like everyone else who lives on the eastside, my power got knocked out as part of the big huge windstorm that hit the pacific northwest (if you haven't heard about it yet somehow: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/12/19/northwest.storm.ap/index.html). Thing is, when the power goes out the problem is not just that your TV won't work: the roads are jammed because the intersection lights are out (all-w... continues

You may remember me talking about Koios Works before.  They wrote one of the first retail games using Managed DirectX.  They have an entirely new 3D game out now called Panzer Command: Operation Winterstorm Not only are they still using Managed DirectX and having a full 3d game going, they won first prize in a contest sponsored by Intel with a nice chunk of change reward! I wonder if and... continues

The XNA Games Studio Express beta is available.  It's not a complete representation of the final Games Studio Express functionality, but it's a good way to get acquainted with the style of the thing. There's a lot to go over, even for Managed DirectX veterans.  You'll notice a lot of name changes.  You might find that there are a lot of new, unfamiliar technologies available.&n... continues