PalmKobo Developer's Journal

2003-06-17: Palm OS 5 alpha release. After an exchange of emails with Pedro Branco, PalmKobo is now Palm OS 5 compatible and supports the Tungsten's 5-way navigator (see the 'Preferences' dialog under the 'Options' menu).
To download the "PalmKobo0.4.zip" file, which contains "PalmKobo.prc", "XKobo Stages.pdb", and "Wolfgang J Stages.pdb" click here. To download the source code, "PalmKobo0.4.tar.gz", click here.
I don't plan to spend much, if any, time on PalmKobo in the near future, as there hasn't been much evidence of interest in it. If you are a user and would like to see any improvements and/or changes, email me here.

2003-02-12: Alpha release. All the enemies have been ported and sound effects have been added. There are also a few bug fixes from the last pre-alpha release. All the XKobo stages can now be played (if you're good enough), and I have included the ten stages by Wolfgang Jährling that are in the version of the XKobo source code I have.
To download the "PalmKobo0.3.zip" file, which contains "PalmKobo.prc", "XKobo Stages.pdb", and "Wolfgang J Stages.pdb" click here. To download the source code, "PalmKobo0.3.tar.gz", click here.
Next: Write the stage decrypting code while waiting for bug reports.

2003-02-04: Update release including 15 more levels for a total of 21, bug fixes and minor chages. The Easy and Normal difficulty settings now run at slightly slower frame rates. Enemies fire at you more often than before (this was a bug - i.e. they were firing too infreqently before).
To download the "PalmKobo0.2.zip" file, which contains "PalmKobo.prc" and "XKobo Stages.pdb", click here. To download the source code, "PalmKobo0.2.tar.gz", click here.
Note that there are still no sound effects.
Next: Port remaining enemies and add sound.

2003-01-23: Yes, it's finally here! The pre-alpha release of PalmKobo, along with a new screen shot. To download the "PalmKobo0.1.zip" file, which contains "PalmKobo.prc" and "XKobo Stages.pdb", click here. To download the source code, "PalmKobo0.1.tar.gz", click here.
Only the first six XKobo stages are playable in this release. I need to port more enemies' code in order for the later stages to work properly. Note that there are no sound effects yet either.
Next: Port more enemies and start looking into sound options.

2003-01-11: Obviously I didn't make my Xmas deadline. Oops! There's just been too much else going on around here. I haven't touched PalmKobo for at least three weeks, but I'm getting back to it now. I'm very close to that pre-alpha release, I just wanted to squash a couple of bugs first.
The pre-alpha versions of the "Stages", "Preferences" and "About" box dialogs are done and there are enough enemies working to play the first three XKobo stages, which is probably all that will be available in the pre-alpha.
Next: Fix a few bugs, then get this release out.

2002-12-02: New "letterhead"/banner/logo and changed the colour scheme here. The game seems to work to the extent that the first level is playable.
I'm now working on the "Stages" dialog (see the "stage sets system" page). I will also get at least preliminary versions of the "Preferences" dialog and "About" box done before I start porting the XKobo/Kobo Deluxe code for the rest of the enemies.
Next: Finish Stages dialog, do Preferences and About dialogs.

2002-11-27: New screenshot (see below). Enemies seem to be working, but only the ones required for the first XKobo level have been fully coded. The enemy bases can be destroyed, but the cores keep firing after they're dead and gone and the point-scoring system is not working properly
Next: Fix core destruction and point-scoring, make other enemies "shootable".

2002-11-21: Oops! It's been a month and a half since the last entry here. I have been busy with other work/projects, so KoboBaby has mostly been on the back burner. It's still not ready for the pre-alpha release that was due on the 15th.
There's assembly language code all over the place. I'm currently working on the code for spawning and moving the enemies. Once this is done I need to do a bit of "tidying-up" to get to that pre-alpha release. Hopefully I can find time to get it done before Xmas.
I have fixed a bug in the text to PDB converter (see the stage sets system page).

2002-10-06: Player's shots working, but not perfectly. The frame rate has slowed, causing shots to sometimes jump through walls etc.
I have started converting the collision detection code to assembly language, and will probably do the painting routines too. This has meant pushing back the projected date for the (pre-)alpha release to 2002-11-15.
Next: Finish assembly language conversions.

2002-09-09: Sprites working including collision detection (both sprite-to-sprite and sprite-to-fortress). New screenshot (see below).
Yet more changes and corrections to existing code, including breaking up the background-painting task so it doesn't block the event loop.
Next: Player's projectiles.

2002-08-30: Unencrypted stage loading done. I've written a Java application to convert C-source-style text into PalmKobo .pdb files (see the Stage Sets page).
The existing code has been tweaked a little more here and there. I think I will come back to the stage decrypting code later.
Next: Finish sprite support and implement player's ship sprite.

2002-08-24: Still working on the stage sets system. The basic data structures and concepts are resolved (as spelt out above), but loading code etc. is yet to be written. I haven't decided whether to convert the original XKobo/Kobo Deluxe stages into a database by hand, or to write a little app. to do it (which could then be used as a text-to-database tool for other sets in the future).
I have made some minor changes and fixups in the existing code.
Next: continuing with the 'stages' database system.

2002-08-18: Fortress building done (see POSE 'screen shot' below). I converted the Kobo Deluxe 'map-tile' image data to a single column of smaller (half-size) images to suit my background-rendering code, which is working but may need some fine-tuning - maybe even some assembly language optimizations.
Next: designing and implementing the 'stages' database system. PalmKobo will support multiple sets of stages (levels), and the user will be able to select a set to play from all the sets they have installed. Third parties will be able to create their own sets and register them here at this website. More on this later...

2002-08-15: Put up this webpage.
The code is not yet very far advanced. Estimated date for alpha release: 2002-10-15.
I have basic initialisation of the 'game' and 'graphics' objects and a working but skeletal animation system.
Next: porting the fortress building code from XKobo.