FreeBASIC

I've always been a big fan of ASCII based games. If I sit down to toy with a project, more often than not I'm doing something ASCII. I was never a great artist, but I loved Roguelikes (ADOM being my favorite) and had a mind to write a multi-player Roguelike back in the day.

Anyways, I just wanted to post about one of the coolest ASCII apps I've seen in a while. The name is Project Infiniverse. It procedurally generates universes with star maps and nebulae or planet surfaces with climate regions, vegetation, etc. It's pretty awesome to check out if you have the time and are on Windows.

The apps are programmed in my compiled language of choice, FreeBASIC. I'd love to be able to write algorithms like that. (There's the geek in me speaking. )

Well, for the last several weeks, there has been a FreeBASIC game programming competition in the forums at FB.net (view thread). I pleaded with my wife and was allowed to work on and submit an entry. I've sacrificed plenty of sleep to work on the project after she's gone to bed and ended up with what I feel is a solid, enjoyable arcade game with enough bonuses and gameplay strategies to provide some replay value. The title is SECTOR SHOCK, and it is your next favorite pasttime.