I am Now a Mac user!

Lat weekend I finally received my brand new 27" i7 Quad Core iMac from the store. Oh boy is this thing big and fast. :) This also means that I've started working with Lazarus and all my other lovely tools and am in the middle of trying to get them all working for Mac OS X 10.6.x aka Snow Leopard. It seems that the current state of my prefered API and libraries, JEDI-SDL and the included OpenGL headers, are not Snow Leopard ready. So this is what I'm working on now. Hopefully with the help of Stoney aka Johannes Stein we can update JEDI-SDL to work nicely in the latest version of Mac OS X while using OpenGL 2.0 headers.

I would also like to find a way to make all these installations for the Mac less painful. Installing Lazarus it's self is 3 separate downloads and even then you need to special instructions. Though having to also go to the Apple Developer website make a new account and figure out how to download Xcode and install it. On the Lazarus wiki site it is said to be a prerequisite first, but not the case it seems since I got away with installing Xcode last.

That aside, it seems that the current obstacle to get JEDI-SDL working under OS X 10.6 is to eliminate some fatal errors with the included OpenGL headers. Luckily my Scorch 2D tutorial series doesn't use any of the GL units nor does it use sdl_mixer or sdl_image so this will be a simple first run. Once I get that going successfully I can move on to tackling the GL issues in the latest JEDI_SDL.

Been a while...

Hi folks! It seems like it's been a while since I posted to my blog. But that's not to say that I haven't been busy. In fact a good few things have been going on.

I've finally released the second issue of Pascal Gamer Magazine. This issue, published in April 2010, features the 2009 PGD Annual Game Developer's Competition. There is also more articles, Coder's Block, Game Reviews and What's New content to keep you up to date with some of the events within the greater Pascal community.

The Pascal Gamer website has been given an update allowing you to more easily browse through all the past issues, download web banners and access downloadable bonus material from articles in each issue.

I've also set up an account with Lulu.com to allow you to get a copy of the first issue of the magazine in print! I'll soon add the second issue and as I publish new issues I will be adding each of those to be purchased in print as well. Just look on the details page for the issue you want and if it's available in print you'll see a 'Buy Now Lulu' button that'll take you to the store.

The new site also allows you to make donations through PayPal to help finance new things for the magazine.


Besides the magazine, I've also posted news on PGD about one of my newer projects 'Treasure Hunters: The Dark Labyrinth' which is based off an old board game I used to play as a kid. It features treasure collection, an ever shifting maze of board game tiles and a nasty minotaur chasing you through the maze. The project's showcase page is located here.





In other news, I'm almost on my way to becoming a Mac user! :D However unfortunately it seems that the Toronto-based distributors sent the wrong system. I ordered myself the really high end i7 Quad Core 27" iMac, where they sent me a i5 Quad Core. I was extremely disappointed, but decided to hand it back to the store and wait for them to contact Apple to investigate what happened in the mix-up. *sigh* Soon I hope, soon.


Thats all I really have for now. I guess if I forgot anything important I'll just have to make another post, probably not a bad idea. ;) Happy coding!