Top Spin 2: Australian Open!
April 29th, 2008
Yesterday I won my second major and moved up to 43rd in the world at the close of my first season. I started season two and qualified for the Australian Open. I was ecstatic until I looked at the draw: I would have to play the #12 player in the first round.
So today I decided to play for about a half hour, because I was sure this guy would make quick work of me. I was immediately broken and dropped the first two sets. I thought it was over, but no, these are five set matches now! So, in the third set, I finally started serving well and hit some aces.
The fourth set went to a tiebreak and I was losing at one point, but I somehow managed to come back. Fifth set, deuce, match point, and I won! Final score: 2-4, 3-4, 4-2, 4-3, 3-1.
And this took an hour and a half. That’s longer than most real life tennis matches take me. It was worth it, though. Next round: world #6 James Blake!
Playing some more games
April 28th, 2008
Like Doeo!
http://www.kongregate.com/games/raitendo/doeo
I’m a pretty big Doeo fan. I’m a pretty big fan of twitch games in general. I’m not going to play a Flash game for more than 15 minutes most likely. It doesn’t really make sense, but it’s true.
That’s a problem for me. I can either choose between 15 minute playtimes with Flash and make something that virtually anyone will be willing to at least try, or I can make a game with SDL or something that people would probably play longer, but most would never download. What a tough choice!
I think I’m going to go with Flash for this next one, even though I don’t really feel like a programmer when I’m using it. Is that a bad thing, though? Did Godard stop making films because he didn’t feel like a writer? No!
So a Flash twitch game it will be. And it will be episodic. And it will be grand. Those are some pretty lofty promises, and who knows if I’ll pull it off? I haven’t in the past! I guess you’ll just have to keep reading to find out.
I won my first major in Top Spin 2 yesterday and I’m in the semifinals of another. And now I’m ranked something like 75th in the world, and Nike made me their standard bearer. I want to switch sponsors to Lacoste, though, because I love that little crocodile. Not an alligator, according to Wikipedia. I had to check.
Tennis Games
April 27th, 2008
Yesterday I got Top Spin 2, and it’s a whole lot of fun. I’m playing the career mode, and right now I’m in the final of my first major! I wish they still changed the music for each continent, though. I enjoyed that.

This is a screen from Double Fault!, a game I coded in seven days a few weeks ago. It’s the first game I’ve actually finished in two or three years, and I think it’s kind of fun.