Steam Birds is the turn based strategy version of the old Atari combat game. The interface is well done, and a joy to interact with. It even has an an interesting back story; fusion discovered in the 1800s?
Found this wonderful space strategy game called Pax Britannica. It's more of a demo, but good for a few minutes of fun. I like the interesting trade off between time, the need for superior numbers and the fighter's need to be launched large groups to be effective. The game is a the results GAMMA IV which, I belive is a game development contest. It appears the one of rules was "one button."
I'll be particpating this weekend in the Mini Ludum Dare #16, who's theme is Constraints. As usually I'll run the dev diary on Ludum Dare's site under the name MrPhil. For this, contest I'll be using Python + Pygame. It will be my first stabe at Python or Pygame. I hope they live up to their reputation of being fast to develop in. This way you'll have something fun the play with on Sunday!
Imagine, there is a treasure worth $10 million buried at the bottom of a 150 foot hole. It was put there by someone who does not want anyone else to have it. There are lots of tricks, traps and other things that make getting to money next to impossible. Let's say you have already spend $9.5 million to get 130 ft. It is the final push, the last 20 feet, but there is a problem. The final obstacle is going to cost you $700k. Do you keep going?
In business and economics, the concept of sunk costs is taught. It should be taught in all disciplines, because, no matter what endeavor you undertake, the dilemma of sunk costs will be encountered. So, what are sunk costs? Sunk costs are time, energy and money you have already spent. It's the resources you can't get back no matter what. The permanence of this unrecoverabilty is very important in understanding the true dilemma of sunk costs.
So, back to the Money Pit. Do you keep going? A lot of people would answer, "Yes! Absolutely! You've spent $9 million dollars, how could you stop!" This is faulty thinking. Those $9 million dollars are gone, spent, fineto! There is no getting them back. The question isn't what you've already put into the project. The question is, what is the cost of moving forward? Is it worth investing? This is the phenomena of sunk costs. Sunk costs is the investment we've already made. Pyscologically, this past exerition of effort and use of resources increases our committment to the project. This committment clouds our judgement and often leads us down the path of wasted time, and money. Instead of giving up while we are ahead, those sunk costs push us further down the path, and we waste more time, energy and money.
Now, that we are aware of sunk costs what is the true decision on the treasure we are facing? Is $700k worth more or less than the treasure at the bottom of the pit? Clearly the answer is yes and we should move forward. If on the other hand we weren't sure and there was risk involved it might not be the clear answer. If there was a good chance that no money was at the bottom of the pit, and only small chance of $10 million, you probably should just walk away.
So, next time you are facing a decision, remember. You've got to let the past go. You can't get it back and if you let it cloud your judgement then you are going to find yourself pouring more and more money, time, blood, sweat, and tears into a losing proposition. Don't believe me? Read the sad tale of 3D Realms, Duke Nukem Forever, 12 years and countless millions spent with nothing to show for it.
PS. If you are interested, the Money Pit is a real thing, check it out.
Business The Mr. Phil Games Shoppe's database crashed horrible this weekend. I tried several different ways to get it back in operations, but wasn't able to truly fix it. I'm not sure what happened, but I suspect someone was up to no good. The shoppe is back up, but I think it'll crash again eventually.
The shoppe simple isn't worth the time I have put in it, much less more time. I feel a better use of my time is working on a game. I might rewrite the website for/in Google's App Engine Python, because of the experience, not any hope of return on investment from the shoppe.
At this point, the shoppe provides only two things I value. First, some people give me there email when they download. These emails are useful when releasing new games. Second, all the search engine juice it provides. The shoppe is some what SEO tuned so it gives a tiny foot print in the land of links. If I do rewrite it for the App Engine I will design it with an eye towards direct relationships with developers and put my relationship with Reflexive/Amazon.com lower on the totem pole.
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