Dustin Sacks is a Random Dude

Teleport - Lux Map of the Week

Dustin Sacks — 2008-08-18T14:44:16-04:00

Okay, here's how it works. Each "platform" is made up seven chunks and is worth ten bonus armies for controlling it. At the center of each platform is a "teleporter". A "teleporter" can attack any other "teleporter" and may also attack (one-way only) the outer-ring of any "platform" except for t... [read more...]

Teleport was created by Patrick Cummings. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Hand Island - Lux Map of the Week

Dustin Sacks — 2008-08-12T19:34:47-04:00

It is the 16th century and the kingdom of England starts to miss some crucial natural resource to meet its needs.

The king decides to send a naval fleet in order to discover other territories to fill their lack of resource.

The fleet discovers an island which abounds in ... [read more...]

Hand Island was created by Eric Labadie. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Old Skool Punks

Dustin Sacks — 2008-08-06T14:39:37-04:00

South Carolina - Revolution - Lux Map of the Week

Dustin Sacks — 2008-08-05T20:05:21-04:00

It is August 1780; the American situation in South Carolina is bleak. The continental Army under general Gates has suffered a devastating defeat at Camden leaving the American army in shatters. Now, the only Patriot forces left are scattered bands of militia. General Clinton seizes this opportunity... [read more...]

South Carolina - Revolution was created by Mark Bauer. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Zipcar, the Car Co-op and New Drivers

Dustin Sacks — 2008-07-30T17:58:14-04:00

Zipcar and the Co-operative Auto Network both have cars parked right outside my building. Members can use the cars when they need one. This would be great except for the fact that neither of them will let me join.

Zipcar and the Co-op both require customers to have 3 year driving records. I only recently got my BC driver's license, and I still have my N, labeled as a novice driver.

As a new driver, I think I'm the prime demographic for a car sharing service. Lock me into your program when I'm young and getting started driving and there's a good chance they'd have me as a customer for a long, long time.

It's been good to see the 2 services competing against each other by adding more locations around Vancouver. I'm hopeful that one will see the opportunity here and create a way for new drivers to join.

Rejecting new drivers hampers the growth of car sharing, and pushes people to buy cars. Here's the research on how to buy a used car and Canadian car buying tips.

Prussia - Lux Map of the Week

Dustin Sacks — 2008-07-28T14:38:55-04:00

Prussia at the beginning of the 20th century

Prussia was created by Lupus ferox. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Maryland - Lux Map of the Week

Dustin Sacks — 2008-07-22T05:03:19-04:00

My first map. Thank you all in the MapLAB for helping me get jump started. Roughly 40 hours has been put into this project. Cheesy Dialogue in the Background, but hey, this map will provide a lot of well-thought out strategy. Recommended settings: 5-10% 4 5 6 24 seconds.
Thinnest borders... [read more...]

Maryland was created by War_Lord. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Counting to 4

Dustin Sacks — 2008-07-16T19:15:50-04:00

South Africa War - Lux Map of the Week

Dustin Sacks — 2008-07-14T14:24:54-04:00

Conquer the Southern tip of Africa

South Africa War was created by Robin Tronson. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Devil's Brigade - Lux Map of the Week

Dustin Sacks — 2008-07-10T01:44:20-04:00

By the time the FSSF arrived in Italy, the Allies had tried many times to remove the German army from its entrenched positions along what was known as the Camino massif. The positions held by the Axis forces blocked the only clear path to Rome sizeable enough to move an army. The Allies' plan was t... [read more...]

Devil's Brigade was created by Devil's Brigade TV. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Connecticut under Siege - Lux Map of the Week

Dustin Sacks — 2008-06-30T03:28:00-04:00

The American Pirates have began a small war in Connecticut. See if you can turn back the invasion.

Pirate ships compliments of Mark Bauer's web site.

Connecticut under Siege was created by Shane Hunter. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Utah Wars - Lux Map of the Week

Dustin Sacks — 2008-06-24T16:24:34-04:00

The Mormons, having finally escaped persecution, settled in the dry and arid regions of the American Southwest. As their numbers grew, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints pushed for the formation of their very own State, Deseret. This brought them back into conflict with the US government... [read more...]

Utah Wars was created by Mark Bauer. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Luxtopia - Lux Map of the Week

Dustin Sacks — 2008-06-17T19:45:14-04:00

Luxtopia

Normally a peaceful land, Luxtopia has thrived under Lord Quasar. But unrest is brewing in the countryside.

Find your home in Luxtopia - whether it be one of the churches, a local landmark or even in Noob Village and DEFEND YOUR TURF.

Be careful, game... [read more...]

Luxtopia was created by RandomGuy. It's the Lux Map of the Week.

Hanoi Crazy Night Traffic

Dustin Sacks — 2008-06-11T05:43:27-04:00

Notice there are no traffic lights in this massive intersection. Some discussion of it can be seen in the comments on the video's homepage.

Platforms to Stand On

Dustin Sacks — 2008-06-09T19:15:13-04:00

My company currently makes games for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.

The first 2 have a good business case. Lots of people run Mac OS X and Windows, and buy games to play. (Thank you to all the customers who keep us small developers alive.)

Linux doesn't have as good a business case for us. Not very many people buy the Linux versions of our games. But, I foresee Linux continuing to grow in leaps and bounds on the desktop. And our codebase is in Java, so it isn't that much extra work to make Linux versions.

Going Mobile
The mobile OS wars are warming up fast. In the past we've gotten some scattered requests for PocketPC or Palm versions, but it hasn't seemed worthwhile. Apparently there was good money to be made selling Palm apps in the past, but greedy distributors (hearsay says Handango) and a decaying platform have destroyed it.

J2ME and BREW cellphone apps are making money, but only for a few big companies (at least in North America). The carriers have been very greedy distributors, and locked down their platform tightly.

Apple's iPhone is fresh mobile platform coming on strong. They've publicized their app distribution rate as taking a 30% cut. That's a lot better then most desktop games distributors (Yahoo Games typically takes 70%). Apple has been tremendously successful at iterating the iPod from version1 to perfection. They're following the same process with the iPhone, building a mobile platform from the ground up. I think the iPhone will be one of the long term mobile platform winners.

Google Android is the other mobile platform I'm keeping an eye on. Open-source and available for carriers to build on. Apps are written in the Java language, but using G's own VM and libraries. (A nice end-run around SUN, straight to Java developers.) It hasn't launched on any real phones yet, but I think it has huge potential. The first Android phones are supposed to be available "soon."

You already have a computer in your pocket (your cellphone). The big question for software developers is: what platform is your next one going to run?