Underground Laboratory

So far there were almost no updates on this page for a year. I have been busy running my own studio, finishing some projects, and travelling. I'm about to change it - one way or another - meanwhile I have updated background picture... whoa!

I decided to check some operating systems after almost year. The pole is:

• Haiku
• AROS
• PC-BSD

Last time I gave them a try my impression was following:

• Haiku - Couldn't tell. Didn't even start on my computer. I saw many movies though. In the times of BeOS I was still using Amiga, so I haven't seen any benefit of using another system. Maybe this was mistake, because from the movies of Haiku I couldn't tell if I like it, but sure I was waiting for it.
• AROS - Mixed. I loved Workbench on Amiga, but this looked more like some kind of misunderstand. The system had virtually nothing. First thing I wanted to do was revert system to original 3.1 look and feel. I don't want something in my OS that does not belong there. You don't mount F1 tires to a truck, you dont put passengers seat to F1.
• PC-BSD - Brilliant. I loved how the system looked, how it run, how it behave, how easy it was. Every time I met some linux user I adviced him to try this. It was perfect out of the box.

So now after more than a year I tested them again. My impression was quite surprising:

• Haiku - Good. It had everything it needs. I didn't like the idea of running FireFox on it, but it is really great thing that actually such a port exist.
• AROS - Not so bad. It had everything to 'start doing things' on it. I would still revert to original look, though.
• PS-BSD - Terrible. I thought that switch to KDE 4.xx was a good idea, but the desktop looked like teenagers bedroom wall. Couldn't find anything I liked in it. I was deeply disappointed in how it looked, even if I knew I can easy change it, I just didn't want to do this.

The next question is: Do I want to switch to it? The answer is: no. I would never switch to any of those systems, maybe not for now. If I want to use Workbench or Amiga Apps - I will run WinUAE. Haiku or BeOS has no nostalgic value for me. I like Haikus minimalism, but I hate AROS unbalanced appearance - almost all is begging for replacement. As for PC-BSD - so far it is my biggest disappointment. I really liked it year ago, now probably I will first check some Linux distros before I consider doing it.

I have been recently in Singapore for a short visit. There is one thing very noticable: PSP-3000. People play everywhere. Sometimes you have problem in shops because staff is in the middle of saving universe, so you have to wait to buy something. This picture was taken in MRT. I tried to ask the lady if I can take picture for several stops, but she was so busy that she completaly ignored me. Fortunately she had a nice husband who let me take a shot. I wonder how she got to MRT - I bet her husband guided her so she didn't had to pause the game during walking.

I guess my long and not so nice relationship with IE6 has finally come to an end. I officially sieze 'support' for this empty of standards browser.
www.DearIE6.com, Its been a good run, now please leave.

I'm about to open my studio.

My former boss threatened my life! This is incredible - such immature people doing business. If anyone reads this right now: Stay away and never, ever work with company which name I can't reveal, but I can give you some clues:

• The name has 3 words:
• First word is a number between 6 and 8,
• Second word is Poe's favourite bird.
• Third word is a common name of the place, where people make software, design, art etc,
• The owner of the company comes from country where they make pizza, but lives in land of smiles.

I'm not saying this because I try to get revenge, I don't want anyone to get same problems as I had.

Resigned from my work. I had like 6 months of hell with inresponsible people, who do not know nothing about gamedev at all and just want to toy with company. I have worked for around 10-12 every day in office alone, while my boss dropped by from time to time to play something on Wii/X-Box with some ladies. Eventually he sat behind his desk to play some cards. After few fights he satarted to work on something, or convince some people on internet to do the work for him, but after couple of days everything was going back to previous state. I haven't received also salary for 2 months, so now I'm like on my own without money.

Sometimes people don't understand basic thing: Doing games is not same as playing them!

Moved to Thailand. Phuket. Everything is new. I got work in 7 Raven Studios. So far things looks really scary: there is almost nobody here to work with me and the project is really huge and hard to develope. I just hope I will get some help soon and everything will be like it should.

All old project data had to go to freezer. Uploaded new version of Donkey Kong HTML and old Rex: New Mission.

My birthday. Now officially I'm 30. Right now I'm seriously considering moving somewhere else to change my life somehow drastically. It is half of my life after all.

You never know, when it strikes you. My way of creative solving is as follows:

• first you think about a solution, not always first solution is the best,
• then you push it further,
• then again you push it further,
• then again,
• then when you think that you have done everything, creative solving begins,
• you push it further, surprisingly at this state you will have much more ideas, than you need,
• then you go back to the beginning and compare solutions with your first ideas
• sometimes it is easy to forget about particular problem you were about to solve.

Sometimes of course you don't have much time|energy for creative way of solving your problems. That was in case om this webpage. So after putting all together, I got this good idea - I should white my blog|news horizontally, not vertically. This way whole site would be coherent. Maybe later. You never know, when it strikes you.

CSS sucks, not really. As you probably already know, I have uploaded new version of this errrr well webspace. I'm no web designer. In fact I used to dream I'll be one, when I was 17 and seen for the first time Netscape Navigator on Sun Workstation at Politechnics, where I used to break from my highschool. Back then all we got was HTML and... no JavaScript. Later, when JS appeared, some mushroom grew - Windows with its Explorer. Since then there were many compatibility issues, hacks and fights. From then every web page had to be written considering 2 web browsers. As you probably know, HTML has its documents done in specific way, you can't just position your content, you have to use some tricks like tables instead. What it introduced was a blend between content and look (I won't write much more about other issues, just assume, that it was bad). CSS was supposed to be a cure for this. Is it? Well, it is defenitally better than tables|javascript. When you keep in mind several aspects of HTML|CSS web page, you are able to do almost everything. Finally you have some standards... that are differently interpreted. Now I have to consider IE and Firefox. Hmmm back to the beginning.

I stood up.

Changed my mind. I will start right from... tomorrow.

I have uploaded new version of the site a few days ago. As for now it's still very alpha - just testing grounds. I have left all project pages just for remote linkage, but I'll also take it off. Then I plan to upgrade them one by one. Again: 'games', 'tools', 'typos' links doesn't work for now.

Do you really expect me to write my blog???

Hi all. I'd like to say hello... WTF?? Why does nobody told me about wrong urls on my page?! Okey, now they are all in place, but I'm really angry about it, especially when even server admin haven't mentioned a world about deleting my account...

Hi. I'd like you to know, I have a tryout time in a game industry company. Happy New Year. BTW. this is exactly a year since opening of this page and I have more than 3000 visitors! (okey, okey, 95% of entries are just mine)

Shortest note, about the biggest projects update: Ted, Frank, Express.

Guess what am I holding in my hands right now?... Nobel?... no... Oscar?... no... Free ticket to Iron Maiden concert?... no... Ticket for trip around the World?... no..... okey okey, I will tell ya!!!..... Just don't get a heart attack. It is a Donkey Kong Mini Classic! That's right! I think this is where it all has begun for me. I'm almost in paradise, almost. There is one thing which could make me happier, however. This is a true Donkey Kong game with clock and switch off function and an orange case.

Thanks to BoycottAdvance ONLINE now you can run Rex:NewMission online!

Whoaa! This site has been visited 2000 times in such a short time. Thank you for your kind support...
And now for something completely different. I have almost finished few more GBA engines and I plan to make a full game with new features. Meanwhile you have to wait. If anybody is interested in helping me (well, I can't be gfx designer, sound engineer and coder at once). Just give me a note!
I would like to thank my friend Piotr Albrecht for great coding support and tons of materials (well MB's exactly, but if I would print it...). So thank you Piotr.

Just like I promissed... Rex: New Mission for GBA|source is available for download in RexNM section.

My apologies for lack of updates. I know I'm a lazy bastard, but it won't happen again. I'm extremely busy with my personal life (plus now finding myself a new job). Just returned from my holidays to spend next 2 weeks on my art studies. After that time I had a little time to write a GBA game for GBADEV.ORG 2003 Development Competition so check it out. I think on sunday I will have a little time to post my game|sources on my site, for now - just like it is - and it was really fast written... So one more time: I'm alive!

New version of Donkey Kong HTML (4.5).

New version of Donkey Kong HTML (4.4). You will have to wait until I get the original game for more updates. :(

First of all I have moved to another free server, though address is still the same...
...added a new version of Donkey Kong HTML (1.1).
I have changed textures in RPG and Hired, sorry but now all is lo-res. It's a waste of time and space to keep every texture in 1MB file.

Donkey Kong HTML works now online...

Donkey Kong HTML doesn't work online... I guess I will rewrite it sooner than I thought.

Translated more info into English...

Small corrections. I'm just beginning...

Added Rex project.

Ekhmm... Hello World.