Promit's Ventspace

SlimTune: UI Improvements

I’ve been doing some work on SlimTune quietly, and now it’s to the point that I have to decide what the next phase of things should be. There are essentially three major groups of work to tackle: UI improvements, memory profiling, and instrumentation. I’ll spend this post explaining what I’m looking at with the UI.

What Idiot is in Charge of PhysX?

In order to try PhysX, I have to request a developer account, then have it approved. No idea how long that process takes, but there’s no real reason to find out:

Update: We expect it may take another 2 weeks before the SDK is available for download as we continue to have issues with our secure download server.

So not only do I have to go through your contrived process, you fools can’t even get your shit together enough to make the download available within two weeks. Why on earth would I use a library that’s in the hands of such incompetent people?

Advisory: You Should Probably Use FpuPreserve

One of the create flags for D3D 9 devices is FpuPreserve. It tells the Direct3D runtime that you don’t want it to mess with the FPU flags, which it does to improve performance. And you should probably be using it.

Secondary Effects of iTunes Game Pricing

Every so often, someone complains about the overall price depression on the iTunes App Store to rock bottom. It’s a theme that recurs fairly often, and I’m generally a little dubious about the people who are upset about it. It seems mostly to be a product of an actual free market – you may think your game is worth five dollars, but if someone is producing similar quality for one, well tough shit. Remember, consoles games are basically price fixed and that has a substantial effect on the PC market as well. Now iTunes is a more nuanced discussion than that, exacerbated by the ranking system by which apps rise above the crowd in the store. I’m dubious of the complaints, but I don’t mean to suggest they’re without merit. Instead, I want to highlight some of the secondary effects I’ve noticed.

Action = Reaction Labs LLC

I’d like to introduce you all to our new company, Action = Reaction Labs LLC. Our goal is to bring a pair of new technologies to the games market, starting with the iPhone, that I think could really change things. I know that’s a pretty ballsy statement, but stay tuned over the course of the next year at least, and a lot of interesting things should be happening. We’re still working on a corporate site but I’ll let you all know when that’s ready.