Been Quiet

You probably noticed this has gone a bit quiet, but that's because publishing Hal Junior took a tremendous amount of effort. Once you launch your babies into the world you tend to focus on other projects for a while. In my case, first it was another edit of Hal 5, and now it's the Hal Spacejock PC game.

My favourite PC games are classics like Transport Tycoon or Minecraft, where you start with a blank slate and create whatever you want. Graphics are not important. For me, it's all about the open-ended challenge.

Blockbuster games are released like movies or books, where they have to be perfect from day one. Computer software is different, in that you can build a loyal following by releasing modest early versions and then improve and extend them over time. This is what I did with yWriter (now up to version 5, with tens of thousands of users), FCharts, and all my other Spacejock Software releases.

When I say release early versions, I don't mean they should have bugs. My software is solid & reliable, because that's far more important to me than flashy graphics.

So what's the goal with the Spacejock PC game? The first alpha will dump you on a planet with very little info about why or where. (Hands up if you skip prologues in Phat Phantasy novels.)  Initially, players will explore the surface to discover the various buildings and structures, and eventually they'll figure out how to make a little cash. Along the way they'll pick up a little background, and maybe the threads of a plot.

As long as the initial release handles that part adequately, I'll be happy. I have huge plans for the rest of the game, but I hate spoilers so you won't find out about them from me.

I've only been writing this thing for three weeks now, but a lot of the basics are in place. If you follow the link to the Spacejock PC Game (above) you'll discover a developer diary which I'll update regularly.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal Junior - getting closer

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Electonic Hal

I was browsing Dymocks Online today, curious to see whether the pre-release listing for Hal 4 had appeared yet. It hadn't, but imagine my surprise when I discovered they're selling an ebook version of Hal Spacejock book one.

Here, see for yourself. And have a giggle at the price while you're at it.

(I don't know whether their ebooks are available to buyers outside Australia, but if they are, then by my calcs an expensive Hal ebook is still half the price of a printed copy plus airmail.)

Oh well, I'm not sure Hal appreciated being digitised but I'm sure Clunk got a buzz out of it.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

LibraryThing

I signed up with LibraryThing recently, after seeing it mentioned around the place. If you don't know what LT is, it's a site where you can catalog(ue) your books. Free accounts are limited to 200 books, or you can get an annual or lifetime account with unlimited entries.

Most popular titles already have an entry, and the site also offers a bulk ISBN import feature which gathers data from up to three different sources.

Unfortunately, of the 3000 or so books in my house I'd only catalogued about 1300 in my own BookDB software, and of those I'd only bothered to enter ISBNs for about 300. So, it's search-add-search-add for me.

The quickest way I've found is to gather all the books I have by a given author (thank goodness my collection is alphabetical!) and then I search for that author in LT under 'Search works' on this page (NOT 'Search authors' or you just get the author name...) When the list of works comes up you can sort by title and ctrl+click all the ones you have to open their pages in new windows, where you can then click Add to library.

The people running the site are open to suggestions - in fact, they've already made one change I requested and I've only been there a few days. They'll go far with that attitude - or else they'll get purchased by your local mega media conglomerate.

Signup is really quick and easy, with no personal details required, and the site is certainly worth a look if you've ever considered making a list of your books. It's fascinating to see how many other people have copies of the books you own, and you can also leave reviews and scores out of five for any title.

As for backing up, LT offers a CSV export, and naturally I'll be adding an importer to BookDB which will read their file format.

Final thing: If you have Hal Spacejock 1, 2 or 3 you can add them to your LT from their pages below:

Hal Spacejock LT page
Hal Spacejock Second Course LT page
Hal Spacejock Just Desserts LT page

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Yoyogod meets Hal Spacejock ...

... and Hal wins ;-)

Read the review here

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)