PORTAL 2

    Last night I bought Portal 2. I was trying to beat the time set by Notch, which was about seven hours. It took me eight hours to complete the single player mode and I still haven't completed the co-op mode. I won't review the game, there are plenty out there. All you really need to know is that the game was amazing, way longer than the first one and I still haven't played co-op.

   My xbox 360 was recently died from the Red Rings of Death and my attempt to fix it failed. Because I really wanted to play Portal 2 I purchased and downloaded over steam. Steam had a nice deal where I also received a copy of the original Portal for only five bucks.

    Portal doesn't like the integrated Intel graphics chip set on my hp desktop computer so I had to play on my xps laptop. The graphics were absolutely amazing.One benefit of owning the PC version is the Developer Console, which is basically a command line within the game. So far I haven't done much with Dev Con but I have figured out how to play split screen co-op mode on one computer.

    If you are deeply considering purchasing portal, it's definitely worth the money. 
   
    Visit our facebook page and flickr thread for more in game pictures. To take in game pictures, just press F12.

Minecraft Pictures

Picture Time!

 My fortress thing

 Tree Farm!

 Down the Drain!

Sapplings

Snow!

For more pictures visit the SwashBlade RC facebook page.
Don't have facebook? Flickr!

A friend of mine started a new minecraft thread on the forums, check it out!

http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=1020&t=294166

Minecraft World Downloads #1

   Here is a link to a Minecraft world that I am currently working on. I started this world recently so not much has happened yet.

Iceland Island http://www.mediafire.com/?k3yl30lj1etqd2d

  Check back soon for more Minecraft worlds and updates!

50th Blog Post!

     Hello and welcome to the 50th SwashBlade RC blogpost!

    Today Minecraft version 1.5 was released. This update features weather and achievements. I haven't expirenced rain or snow yet which is dissapointing. For those wondering, achievements are local, when you start a new world you still have the achievements you have obtained on that computer. I may post download links for my minecraft world soon!

   We are also working on Android applications, soon we will post something on the Android page! I already have the app planned out and I started writing code. Subscribe to be notified when the application will be released.

   Also, for those wondering about the RC part of SwashBlade RC, I will be building a new plane soon. With summer arriving I am thinking of building either a WWI Bi-Plane or a civilian J-3 cub for summer compitions. Next weeks poll will have to do with the plane I will build.

freeBASIC Tutorial #2

     FreeBASIC is a programming language very similar to Microsoft's quickBASIC, but has many differences. FreeBASIC can actually be a powerful language.

     If two people were working on the same program at the same time, they can create different source files and compile them together. For this simple hello world program you write this code:

                                                Hello.bas
                                      1. 1
                                      2. color (c)
                                      3. print "Hello world"
                                      4. sleep 300

    If a friend wrote that, insted of copy and pasting into your source file you can do this:

                                               World.bas
                                       1. #include "Hello.bas"
                                       2. c = c + 1
                                       3. if multikey(&h01) then goto 2
                                       4. goto 1
                                       5. 2

    This is a simple way to combine multiple source files similar to different calsses in the Java programming language.

     freeBASIC tutorial #3 will actually explain this code block here, if you don't understand explination will soon arive. Click the subscribe button on the right to be notified when a new tutorial is released.

freeBASIC tutorial #1

        Recently I have been writing code in fbide (freeBASIC ide). I have found almost no online tutorials so I will create one. You can download the freeBASIC compiler at freebasic.net downloads page. The version I am using has been outdated since 2006, it should say that in the description. The language syntax is extremely similar to QuickBASIC and shares some C++ syntax.

       The first program that programmers will write in a new language is "Hello World". In freeBASIC, to display hello world in a console window you write:

                           1.  print "Hello world"
                           2.  sleep

         To display text to a console window you use the "print" command which simply means display the text. If you were to run the program without using the sleep command the console window would open and exit faster than you could read.

          Something a little more advance but fun to try is this program.


                            1. 1
                            2. color (c)
                            3. print "Hello world"
                            4. sleep 300
                            5. c = c + 1
                            6. if multikey(&h01) then goto 2
                            7. goto 1
                            8. 2

          If you don't understand this code that's fine, I will explain it more next time. I will be writing these tutorials a couple times a week. If you want to know when they first come out you can subscribe!

freeBASIC PONG version 1.1 release

       I made some changes to the freeBASIC PONG game and is now available for download at the Windows page. Some changes include a title at the top left corner, press "p" for an in game pause menu and more. For a full list of changes read the changelog included in the download.

LInux "Ubuntu"

      I just finished downloading the popular Linux distro "Ubuntu"! In fact this blog post has been created in "Ubuntu!" To download Ubuntu was very simple, instead of burning a CD I used the Wubi application to download Ubuntu in Windows Vista. I know run a dual boot with Windows Vista and Ubuntu. I am thinking that in the future I will have multiple hard drives, each one with a different operating system. Maybe one with XP or one with Windows Seven.

freeBASIC "PONG" - Update

     I finally uploaded the freeBASIC "PONG" game which is available for download on the computer downloads page. I realized after I had uploaded the program to the internet that there were a couple bugs that I might fix tomorrow. This is the next to last freeBASIC project I have for this month. I am trying to focus on programming in Java.

freeBASIC PONG game

      Today I am working on programming a Pong game in freeBASIC. Since I have almost no experience using graphics in freeBASIC this should be an interesting challenge. Hopefully I will be able to finish the Pong game today and have it available for download by tomorrow morning. If I complete the program by tomorrow morning I will include the compiled .exe, the .bas source file and a readme .txt document.

Text Bot Program

       I am still using the freeBASIC programming language for some of my projects. Today I have been challenged to create a computer application where you can do things such as ask the computer questions and tell it things. I'm shooting for an application with four digits in terms of code lines, probably around 1,000 - 2,000 lines of code.

      Of course the only way I know how to create a text bot appliation is by using a loop and an if then statement. Basically I created a simple string variable called user, short and simple. I printed computer dialouge as the first line of text in the program, then the program ask the user for input. If the user variable is equivakent to certaint strings the computer will do different things. The program looks like this:

Computer:  I have just become aware of my surroundings, I have unlimited knowledge, I dare you to ask me a question I cannot answer.

You: What is your name?

Computer: My name is Hewlett Packard.

You: hello

Computer: Capitalize your scentances!

You: How old are you?

Computer: No Comment.

You: No Comment

Computer: Comment

You: Terminate Window

    Anyway that is just some of the possible dialouge that may take place between you and your computer. The files should be available soon for dowload, the challenge is to finish before Tuesday the 12th. I have thought of more files to include, I will be including the .exe (sorry mac users), .bas source file, .txt change log and a .txt document with a list of dialouge that the computer will respond to.

Lost Minecraft Data

Today I was working on a minecraft world that I was thinking about releasing for download. I quit the game, when I started the game again I could no longer open it. The save file is still in the app data. Not sure what happened there.

Downloads Update

I have now officially created download pages with links to mediafire.
I have created three pages at the moment, a different page for different devices.
Enjoy!