reEarCandy Problems...

Just so you know I am having problems building reEarCandy on my computer right now.  I would appreciate some feedback if anyone can get this to build.  For some reason I can't type the program name into the program recording source.  I am also curious to see if this will build on Windows.  A couple of people have said they may be able to help me get it working on Windows.  Please contact me if you can fix these things or can give me some insight.  I am opening up comments on this post so you can give me feedback.  Thanks.  

Esenthel Next-Gen Game Engine

 Esenthel calls itself a Nex-Gen game engine.   It now supports Linux along with Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and web with no plugins.  If you want the full version that includes Linux support and Game Object Class Source Code it will run you $199.  There is a free to try version.  They also have made demo games for a variety of game types.  Esenthel's features include:

• Very Easy to Use
• Advanced Graphics and Physics
• High Performance
• Unlimited Sized Worlds
• Collaborative Development
• Auto Publishing
• 100+ Tutorials and 90+ Documentation Pages Included
• Esenthel Store to sell your own Items
• Frequent Updates
• Rock Solid - Zero Bug Tolerance
• Free to Try!

Reconstruct Your Face From DNA

Have you ever been asked, as a witness, what does this suspect look like?  Your description may be quite limited in detail.  We have all seen the artist made drawings of criminals that authorities are looking for.  These drawings even change from time to time.  Well now Scientists are working to see if they can reconstruct faces from DNA.  They have had some success, according to PLOS Genetics in a publication from yesterday.  Right now crude 3D models of the person can be made from samples of their DNA.  Researchers are looking only at genes that seem to construct facial structure.  The process is far from perfect at its current state and the scientists admit that the limitations of what they can find from the DNA may prove to be non useful in the end.  But it is too early to tell.  If scientists can find a way to reconstruct the whole face this could be very useful to forensics.  However things like weight and age will still need to be determined visually. 

Blender Now Better For Game Dev

I will keep this short.  Blender 2.70 is out and since Valve had a 6 month contract with The Blender Foundation, I think this has something to do with the, better game development support, included in this version.  Other features include: user interface improvements, modelling enhancements, motion tracking tuning, a threaded dependency graph, freestyle NPR rendering, new features for the Cycles renderer, and more.  See more at the Blender Wiki.  Blender is better for game development now, but its also great for 3D animation, physics simulation, video effects, editing and more.  If you want to see what blender can do look at this...

What Game Engine To Use

I have been playing around with game development on and off for a while.  I always have the minimum requirement for the engine to run on Linux.  I have this requirement because I run Ubuntu on my best desktop computer in the house which has a Radeon 7770 for video and has a 6 core AMD Phenom II.  This setup plays all Steam games fairly well at 1600x900.  There is even greater reason to pick an engine with Linux support because the new Steam Machine game consoles basically have game support through Linux support.  Graphics are also important to me because I love things that look beautiful.  If you are a pro game developer that wants the greatest graphics for your AAA game you are going to have to:

    A)  Pay for an engine that supports the best graphics possible.
    B)  Build your own in-house game engine with what you want.
    C)  Take an Open-Source game engine and add the latest graphics support.  (Tesseract)

If you go with option A your best options are Unity, Unreal Engine 4, or Cryengine. 
These all can run your developed game on Linux and they have pay versions that support the latest in OpenGL graphics technologies.  Unity runs $1500 per seat for a pro license.  Unreal Engine has always had a reputation for being cheaper for small projects by charging a smaller monthly fee.  And now for the first time ever Cryengine is pulling an Epic by charging a super small monthly fee of $9.90 a month which is beating Epic Games price for Unreal Engine 4!  The new EasS (Engine as a service) pricing is staring May of this year.  So Cryengine is looking like the best option for now, see the video below.  Lets not forget about Valves Source 2 Engine which will be coming out soon it might out-do even Cryengine since the Source Engine right now is free and its possible to make free contributions to its source code. 

I Made News in China

Hey everyone I was looking at where my blog stands on Google since I am trying to get the word out about reEarCandy.  I came across an article about me on a website from what looks like China.  Here is the link if you don't believe me. 

http://www.tuicool.com/articles/aiArUza

This actually happened because of my submission of the news to Slashdot but they got the details from this blog of mine.  I hope this encourages you to download my software available on this blog under the reEarCandy for Ubuntu page.  Remember to please donate.  Also I need a developer to help me get this running and packaged for Windows.  I also want to make a deb package so anyone who wants to do that for me too I welcome you.  Thanks. 

What Causes Black-outs When Drunk

Happy St. Patric's Day everyone!  Drinking became popular on St. Patric's Day because churches lifted Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking this day years ago.  Be responsible and don't drink too much because you don't want to become black-out drunk.  Black-out drunk is different then passing out because the individual is still awake and doing things.  But as anyone who has experienced black-out drunkenness knows, you have no idea what you did.  I have never been black-out drunk, but I have known people who have been.  You actually have a higher chance of getting black-out drunk again if blackouts have happened to you before.  Some people's brain chemistry is just prone to having them experience black-outs.

What happens when you black-out?  Its caused by changes in brain chemistry.  Alcohol interferes with glutamate, one of the most abundant neurotransmitters in the brain.  The interference occurs most in the hippocampus which is in the center of the brain and is in charge of spacial memory creation as well as navigation.  When the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate can't excite neurons the neurons create steroids and there is poor or no communication in this area of the brain so it can't do its job.  If it can't do its job memories don't get stored or in the case of brown-outs they don't get stored properly.  Brown-outs are when you can only remember if someone reminds you of the event.  The hippocampus is one of the first areas affected by Alzheimer's so if you know what a black-out is like you have an idea of what it is like to have early stages of Alzheimer's.