Author: Barry Carlyon

Prison Architect

From the minds that bought you Uplink and Darwinia comes a currently in Alpha, kind of being Kickstarted game: Prison Architect.

When I first came across it I had left it open in a tab or some time and I finally got around to watching the introductory video. And from that point on I decided to back the project!

Intro Video

Here’s the introductory video. It is quite hilarious in places, and it got me hooked!

Or Jump to YouTube

PRISONERS WITH DRILLS FOR NO REASON!!

They are running a Kickstarter style campaign to allow people to back the game but they have built the backing process to run on their own site. And using a third party provider to secure downloads. Which is quite clever as it give them full branding control. But does mean they miss out of the relevant sites promotional routes, but like them it still relying on backers to help promote the game.

The Game

The aim of the game is to design, build, and run a prison, using gaming themes and ideas from such games as Theme Hospital and others.

It’s currently reached its alpha 7 release and improvement on alpha 6. Largely adding in the Name in the Game backers, and the crimes they have committed (biographies), heres mine.

Barry Barry Barry

It’s quite a good laugh. I’ve had plenty of Prisoners escape, Guards die, and Workers building but not managed to start a big enough riot to burn it down (yet), but if it did happen, you can call the Fire Brigade in and direct them to put the fire out. In the future they are adding more “disasters” and relevant services to deal with them, bit like Sim City I suppose.

Backing

They have several levels of backing available and even if you do go for the lowest level where you just get access to the game, you can always upgrade later via a PayPal donation. And due to recent milestones being reached you can get a “discount” on the name in the game level.

I myself am on the picture in the game level. Which gets your name in the game and your Prisoner designed to match your likeness. (And of course all the previous tiers including copies of existing Introversion Software games, and some nice physical bonuses!

Where

Check the game out over on Prison-Architect.com and on Twitter @IVSoftware! I think it’s worth backing even at just the $30 level to get a copy of the game!

Annual Report

2012inblogging-2

It’s that time of year again where WordPress posts out the Annual JetPack Stats Annual Report, and here’s my report!

Shame it only tracks Posts and not Pages, since there have been a fair few comments and views on the WordPress Plugins category of pages!

Writing PHP Code to Standard

So with the release of AWS SDK Version 2, I’ve been inspired a little to write better PHP Code, at least in stuff I have on my GitHub. The new SDK is written to match the PHP Framework Interop Group PSR-0, PSR-1 and PSR-2, as well as Composer/Packagist Support.

I been working a on project to make starting a new project easier, (create a repo, setup the deployments, Apache VHost etc). Primarily working off of the ATech Media Suite of products.

Starting from a base of peterjaap’s Codebase PHP Wrapper, where I was just adding missing API endpoints to the class, at which point the new AWS SDK was released and inspiration of a sort struck.

I started a new project from scratch, to implement all the API’s that Atech runs, it’s very much in progress, I’ve currently got full support for DeployHQ and PointHQ end points, (as well as having gotten a few obvious missing end points added to the API).

I’m clunking my way thru the CodeBase API, it’s taking some time as its got a truck load more end points, that DeployHQ and PointHQ put together. It has Projects, which have repos, which have tickets, just to scratch the surface.

At the moment it’s largely functional, it’s just missing some extras, the Time Tracking, File Uploads, and so on.
It’s very much a learning experience in an attempt to follow the coding standards as well as laying the code out properly.

At the moment the CodeBase class itself is pretty large, and I’m pondering about splitting it out to sub classes. Classes to represent Projects and Repos and Tickets and so on, but its the first thing I’ve tried to build in such a way, so much consideration is needed, to hopefully get it right. I keep looking at other Project like the AWS SDK and GoCardless’ PHP Class.

The only thing thats really missing, is Unit Testing, which I still need to sit down and learn properly, but I’m still trying to find a suitable entry point to teach myself, and of late been expanding my knowledge using Code Academy, more on that in another post!

So thats a short update on PHP Development in general, you can checkout the ATech API Class so far on GitHub. Feedback always welcome!

(I’m trying to write more on my blog, as well as more PHP in general, hence a in progress post instead of a “It’s completely finished give it a whirl” post)

Kickstarter Projects

Since Kickstarter started, I’ve backed three projects. They are (in order of backing)

Of the three projects, all met their funding goals, and one of them is actually complete.

Oddly it is the project I backed Last!

Lunatik Taktik

Commence Unpacking, in 3,2,1….

With Taktik I went for the $250 band, so in black, the Anodised Aluminium case with the upgraded Gorilla Glass Lens, for the iPhone 4S (and the iPhone 5 case, so when I potentially upgrade I have a case ready for it!)

I received in the post last week, my brand spanking new Taktik iPhone case.

After a quick unpack, and taking it apart. (It has 6 screws and comes with the tool to do so).

Bolting it on to my phone. The First thing you notice is the increase in weight and bulk. Or as I put it

MAN SIZED

Me and my Taktik-ised iPhone

So far its proven quite rugged and effective. Tho its not had any major drops or falls (only a couple of minor ones and a 3 foot fall from my desk).

The general abilities of the case is that it increase the iPhone’s water probability, and keeps the dust out, as well as being more drop proof. All that without a drop in audio or signal quality. In somes cases it actually improves the audio quality, as the channels to the Mic and from the Speaker are more enclosed.

And quite handily has a decent access port/cover for the headphone socket, and for the charger (although it can be a bit fiddly, the depth is nearly as deep as the charging cables block is).

But I do love my new iPhone case, it’s rather beautiful! (And mine is serial 0957), and I don’t mind the additional bulk or weight, and don’t have any issues using the screen edges, even if the depth between the top of the case and the screen is enough to be a little fiddly to start with.

Overall

So overall all 10/10, I love my Taktik. And it should keep my iPhone 4S going and going and going.

Tho to be fair, my iPhone 3G was pretty rugged, and kept going and going, (tho by the time I upgraded, it had no power button, no volume controls and not very easy access to the Mute switch, then I dropped it one too many times and put a crack on the LCD, not the glass covering it). In the end it got smashed against a table in the pub a lot, so I would *have* to upgrade. (It proved to be us indestructible as my old Nokia 3310), and still boots up (tho you can’t see anything on the screen…)!

Le iPhone3g

Looking forward to getting my next Kickstarter reward!

You can follow @LunaTikLife on Twitter!

Using Zombaio with WordPress, A WordPress Plugin

Zombaio Logo

Building on my work at Your Members, specifically the Adult Payment Gateway Zombaio, I’ve finally gotten around to building a better “recommended WordPress Plugin”.
As the one on Zombaio’s site is little more than a nasty hack sitting in front of WordPress without using any WordPress functions or its Database Abstraction Layer, (it’s using Raw Database functions and is not very WordPress’y at all).

It has now been released (current version at time of writing is V1.0.4) and made available via WordPress extend called WP-Zombaio.

What does the Plugin do?

Logs

Essentially the plugin listens for ping backs for the Payment Gateway and responds accordingly, creating or deleting the user, using the details passed back from Zombaio, and logging the full result for later reference.

Installing the plugin first guides you thru a easy to use install procedure, meaning no fiddly file editing, or trying to setup and understand ZScript.

Just download, unzip, upload and activate.
Nip thru the (optional) four step quick start wizard and away, you, go!

It’s a Wizard Harry
Settings all Done

In addition to the quick setup and user create/delete, the plugin provides a few short codes and widgets, to direct the user from your site off to the Zombaio Join Form and back again.

ShortCodes and Widgets!

Guide

Included in the plugin is a guide, which describes how to setup and use all the features as well as general information about running a Membership Site and getting the most out of the plugin. Especially the Zombaio Seal, which can be a little fiddly to get the code for.

Getting the Seal Code

Security and Access Control

On top of the basic functionality, is included a method to block non members from accessing the site and providing a Splash Page/adult content warning page, meaning no need for additional plugins required to do this, saving you overhead. All guests are redirected to this page, so content is protected!

A Basic Landing Page

As well as this, included in the plugin is the ability to create a menu to show to logged out users that is different to logged in users, in case your theme doesn’t provide this.

Menus

To top it all, the plugin is designed to run your WordPress site with “Anyone can Register” disabled, meaning the only way users can join is via the Zombaio Payment Form, and this means users/members have paid for access.

What is Coming Next?

I’m currently working on a update, which includes credit purchase, and the spending of credits on access to posts/pages, (this can be configured to be timed access, for Live Broadcasts/Webcam Events, or permanent access, like a image gallery), again helpful instructions and information is included in the guide on how to setup and use these features.

(The update is currently in beta testing to a couple of users who have contacted me about the plugin, but you can always grab the SVN trunk/current build and give the current credits implementation a go! You can grab this from Extend, no guarantee that it is stable or safe to use in production/live, you can get it from the WP Zombaio Developers Tab)

Suddenly Graphs

In addition I’m adding graphs and reporting data, to supplement the Zombaio Graphs and reporting to help Admins set how their site is doing. And showing what users are spending their credits on, and how many unspent credits are in the user kitty!

During the development of the next version, to fully support credit purchase in a admin easy to setup and use method, further development time is needed to create a little form builder, as there are several options, which can be difficult to easily describe using just WordPress short code Arguments, hence this blog post is talking about the current release and not about the next release including credits!).

So I shall finish this blog post off quickly and get back to finishing off the next version!

Can I see more Screenshots?

Sure, just pop over to the WordPress Extend page, there are a few more there!

Where can I get it

You can check out the Plugin here on the site, or over on Extend.

I need Help!

If you have any suggestions, feature requests or need help setting up and using the plugin, please do not hesitate to drop me a line, and I’ll be able to give you a hand and get you up and running!

I’d like to Donate

Cool! I put a quick an easy PayPal button on the local WP Zombaio Page for you!