Home Automation-Smart Everything?

I have been interested in home automation for years.  I have done a fair amount of research and I plan on implementing some different things in my house.  A Nest thermostat is going to be my first purchase.  I plan on adding motion detectors for lights in the house.  I am also going to put speakers throughout the house and on the covered front porch and the back deck.

There is a new device I just read about called Electric Imp that looks amazing.  Appliance makers can add a port for about $1 and the device itself is about the size of an SD card and should be available for about $25.  If they can sell some manufacturers and really get some market penetration, it could really move the era of connected home devices into the future.

Finished the Matching Engine

I finished the core matching engine last night.  You can match tiles and it drops the above tiles into place and generates new values for the top tiles.  I cleaned up the code and commented it.  I posted it on the Monkey code forums.  I have learned so much there.  I hope maybe the code will help someone that is new to Monkey learn a few things.

Now it is time to start on the gameplay and putting graphics into the engine.  I think I am going to use the Diddy framework for the game.  I am going to spend a couple of days going through it and seeing if I want to go that route.  I want to be able to release this for most of the platforms available on Monkey so I want to have autoscaling resolution in from the get go.

I have also been reading the Monkey book I posted about.  I am already 25% of the way through.  The book has good structure and I think it is good for someone that knows how to program and is just beginning with Monkey.

Link to Code

Monkey Game Development-Book Review Coming Soon

Packt Publishing was kind enough to supply a review copy of Michael Hartlef's new book on programming games with Monkey.  I am excited to get started reading this.  I will be providing a review in the next few weeks.  Here is a link to take a look and purchase if interested.

Monkey Game Development: Beginner's Guide

Coding a Game-With Monkey

One of my favorite games to play on my iPhone when I have a little downtime is Dungeon Raid. It is a lot of fun.  You match swords, shields & potions and they help you upgrade your equipment and killing monsters let you upgrade your hero.  The dragging motion to match is fun and satisfying.  I thought it would be fun to code something like this on a bigger scale where the game portion leads to more options, kind of a cross between Puzzle Quest and Dungeon Raid.

My initial thoughts are to have a turn that is comprised of phases.  Phase 1 would be matching to gain resources like wood, gold, stone & food.  Phase 2 would be using those resources to upgrade your kingdom. Phase 3 would be a research phase where you match to gain points for spell and technology research. Finally, Phase 4 would be a conquest phase where you have a world map and can expand your kingdom by conquering territories.

I have started the matching engine in Monkey.  It is in the preliminary stages, but the matching portion is functional.  I will start expanding out from there once I polish the matching engine a little more.  To be honest, finishing projects isn't my strong point, but I am going to work hard to make progress on this.