Super inspired by "The Incident." There's something about that game the just feed completely into my tastes. Today marks the first day in months since I've dipped back into Objective C Mathogen code. I finished coding Mathogen in Flash and I'm waiting to hear back from the Facebook managers to take down a temp site I created for mathogen. I want to reclaim the Facebook app page I created for the app on Facebook.

Looking through my iPhone code is daunting. If you've ever heard a programmer say, it's difficult to get back into code when you've had time away from it. OMG, that is so true. Tonight I'm not going to go through any changes to the code. I'm just going to open the project in Xcode, take out my pencil and pad of paper and write out the structure again.

I've thought about overhauling the entire game to upgrade to the new version of cocos2d. After reading Joel on Software I realize that this is the worst idea. Instead, I'm planning to refactor the code. I'm going to update the code and make it much more object oriented. Looking forward to getting back into the code and working long nights to get Mathogen running at 60 fps. Wish me luck!

This one stumped me for a bit but I eventually got it to work. I successfully authenticated the player with Javascript using the Facebook API. I wrote code to redirect the user to the permission dialog once their account had been authenticated. I could publish to the player's stream with Javascript, but when I attempted to publish to the player's Facebook stream from the SWF, I learned that the AS3 Facebook API also needed authentication.

Since I had already authenticated the user and received permission in Javascript I didn't want to have the SWF authenticate a seoncd time to publish to their stream from Flash. Noticing that the variables in the SWF did not contain the connection to Facebook. I re-purposed the security and session keys in the Facebook object and created a new session variable that makes the AS3 Facebook API think that the player has already authenticated in the SWF. This allows the app the permission to publish to the player's stream. Tomorrow I'm designing and coding the database tables that will hold the user stats.

After 2 days of hard work, constantly researching the rapidly evolving Facebook API, I finished coding a fully hosted flash app on Facebook that utilizes the Facebook API to do three things:

• Check if the user has signed in
  
• Check if the user has approved the app permissions
  
• Gets the user's Facebook user name and loads it via flashvars
  

Today I'll be working on publishing to the user's stream from the swf. I can publish to their stream from within the iframe but not from the swf yet. Today I'm going to code the swf to publish to their stream using the Facebook api for Flash. I'm so close to having a completed Facebook app I can feel it. Next step, get final logo from graphic artist, move questions to external xml file, and polish off the sound effects. Next week I'll be presenting the completed Facebook app to the directors. This project is right on track to be completed well before the July 21 deadline.

If you're reading this blog and you're confused by Facebook's authentication authentication scheme, here are a few links that helped me figure it out:

• Choosing between iFrame and FBML applications
• You must use XFBML if you're making an iFrame app (No need to use xd_reciever.html to redirect the user. That's the old way of doing things.)
• Embedding swf in iFrame with swfobject and flashvars
• Stream publishing with AS3
• Automatic browser redirect when user has not been authenticated (I noticed that the tutorial did not include an explanation of directing the user to the permission request screen so I added a comment near the bottom of the page to explain how this is achieved)

Heinz Holliger on Schumann's labyrinthine imagination, his erudition and incredible modernity:

To put it rather bluntly, normal people do not compose – or they compose like Carl Czerny or Murzio Clementi. You need a certain amount of openness and non-conformism to be creative. People who are considered mad have not been taught by life to wall up their openness and they have more direct contact to their unconscious.

This is amazing! After 3 hours tweaking code, I'm finally running Flixel in Xcode 3.2. I read this site to learn that I was building with the wrong version of the Flex sdk: http://flixel.org/forums/index.php?topic=1287.0;wap2

I also learned that the build path was set to the flex sdk and should have been set to the project's directory. Installing the syntax highlighting in Xcode. Found this gem of a screencast on xCode shortcuts for only $5! I want it now: http://www.pragprog.com/screencasts/v-mcxcode/becoming-productive-in-xcode

Stuck on xctxtmacro installation for nearly an hour now. Looking over the instructions on http://www.turkeysheartrhinos.com/?p=8 suggesting that i override the default text macros. I will get this to work.
 

Today I added Tweener, an open source AS3 tweening library. I also added Flint particle effects and sound to OSAville this morning. Been coding for 5 hours straight. Time to get some lunch. Going to play music downtown tonight with some old friends. Will resume coding after lunch. The image above shows the raw menu system with no display logic applied.

Made tons of progress today with OSAville. I refined the main navigation of the game. I added a main menu that allows the player to go back to the home screen, toggle the audio, and save the game. Haven't coded the functionality just yet, only completed the way the buttons look and work. Added sprite backgrounds for the status HUD.

Worked through the as3 button bug and created a location movieclip that allows the user to interact with the locations. Not exactly pleased that the movie clip doesn't show the user the same cursor on movie clips as they see on buttons -- the little hand doesn't show up. Working on the database design tomorrow to save the player's name, stats, and usage patterns.

Going home tonight to work on Mathogen in Flash. Artwork seems to be the biggest time sink for me. Loving Puzzle Quest on the iPhone. Can't beat Dugog, the two-headed ogre. Going to level up on other quests to purchase new spells to beat him. Inspired by the RPG elements that frame the game mechanic in Puzzle Quest. Played Transformers War for Cybertron this weekend. So impressed by the graphics and sound design. Rented Red Dead Redemption this weekend.