"Chaotic Neutral"

Normally when Vista’s User Account Control (UAC) asks the user for a consent when launching an application that is deemed insecure, the desktop will fade dark while the consent window is shown. While I recommend to always leave UAC turned on, this desktop dimming can get annoying very quickly.
Fortunately this behavior can be disabled so that the consent window is still shown without dimming the whole desktop. To turn this off follow these steps …

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Despite there seems to be no visible option to turn Autologin on in Vista it is still possible to activate it. The feature is a bit hidden and not directly accessible through the Control Panel. If you ever are the only person using your computer there is no purpose in always having to log into your account. Here are the steps to turn on Autologin …

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Why this is turned off by default is beyond me but Microsoft must be thinking this is useful to users. It is not! There are still people who actually don’t know how make the file extensions visible and there are people who don’t even know that filenames normally have an extension. Displaying file extensions has the advantage that you know immediately with what file type you are dealing (that is unless the file extension was set wrong). But if you can see an .exe extension on an unknown file it is a lot more helpful than just counting on the file’s icon. To turn on ’show file extensions’ follow these simple steps:

1. Go to Start Menu/Control Panel and double click the Folder Options icon
2. Click the View tab and in the Advanced Settings list uncheck the item called Hide extensions for known file types
3. Click Ok and you are finished

User Account Control is probably the most annoying new ‘feature’ in Windows Vista and while it provides a good protection against unwanted programs it can become bothersome quickly when many applications have to be installed. I recommend to leave UAC turned on unless you have enough reason to turn it off. To turn off UAC follow these steps …

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Still have a skeptical opinion about using Flash for making games? Read and rethink … at least for earning money it seems to pay off if done right! Check out this interview with Desktop Tower Defense creator Paul Preece! Obviously it is possible to create a monthly 8000$ revenue just by putting together a simple but addictive Flash Game and make it freely available to people.
Even though personally I’m not too impressed with the game (prefer better graphics/sounds) I found myself getting lost by its addictive gameplay for at least 30 minutes today. Why the heck do I sit here designing an overly complex roleplaying game??! To answer that question by myself: Because it’s what I love doing and its fun for me. But maybe I’m better off devoting some time to create a simple blockbuster first!

So what makes this game so addictive that people are coming back en masse? First and foremost it’s simple and straightforward. No long introduction, no necessity to read instructions, you get into the game quickly. Then there is the addiction factor … Maybe its just me but the reason why it is fun to play is because you try to make your defense perfect to stop the intruding enemies. Another factor is that you can shoot and destroy something. Sounds dumb? I know, but I can imagine that many people’s ‘hunting’ instinct is triggered by that. After all many popular games follow the same scheme. In fact you don’t even need to do the shooting as that is what your towers are doing for you. You just have to place them in a strategically good position and watch how well it works out. The author sure made a good choice by picking a Tower Defense game for this!

Now there are hundreds of other well proven addictive games out there. Make your choice and don’t forget to improve it by adding something that makes it even more fun to play! Meanwhile excuse me … I have to dig through my old games collection and do some searching …

A valuable resource for everyone who is thinking/planning to write a roleplaying game … Indie developer Planewalker Games who are currently making their debut RPG The Broken Hourglass are publishing precious bits of insider information about their game engine called WeiNGINE. The Broken Hourglass is a computer roleplaying game with a strong visual relation to late nineties RPG pearls like Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale or Planescape: Torment (who all were based on the Infinity Engine).
Some examples of their articles: Inside the Engine – Introduction to Items, Inside the Engine – Introduction to Sprites, Rules and Mechanics – Group Skills … and there’s a whole lot more when navigating through the links at the bottom of the pages. I kind of soak up such detailed information on game/RPG design as such things are sparsely seeded on the web (you will not see such information leaking from commercial developers!)