From the looks of our log files, the Web was a quiet place on Christmas day — traffic fell almost 75 percent on December 25. I hope you were all having a great holiday with family and loved ones (I was), and I look forward to handing out more Flash-based gifts for our readers in the next few whatevers.

Meanwhile, my apologies to all those who were unable to view last week's new Flash game. It was the first project I've produced relying on the latest Flash Player (version 8 ), and well… crap! In my errant OSX/Win32-centric world, I hadn't realized that Macromedia-turned-Adobe has yet to release a Linux version of the new player! The game in question was never actually designed for Web distribution (it was originally built as a stand-alone projector within a controlled environmen), but I thought others might get a kick out of it. Sorry about that!

Regardless, rest assured that until there's an official release of a Linux Flash 8 player, we'll stick to Flash 7 for future projects (here and in my "real job," I'm afraid). We certainly don't want to leave anybody out in the cold! (And yes, Adobe, that was a subtle jab at you, there.)

Thanks again, readers, and to those who celebrate it, Happy Hannukah!

Part of the fun of creating our new Flash-based game, Ballistic Stroke, is the ability to change "the rules" of what's expected: Things that are usually trivial can be raised to absurd heights of esteem. After all, the games' main characters are basically stick figures, doodles scrawn across a sheet of paper. But they do have their problems.

In keeping with this idea, we present the following "cinematic trailer" for Ballistic Stroke, due to be released in January.

The Doodle War is coming.

Hope you enjoy!

I've made a lot of progress lately on the promised new Flash game, and it looks like it's actually going to turn out as I'd hoped. In fact, I'm going to commit myself to the project right now by officially announcing my plans: The new game, tentatively titled "Ballistic Stroke," (it took forever to come up with the title) will be a Flash-based, online, multiplayer, real-time strategy game built upon the ongoing epic struggles between warring factions of… well… doodles on a piece of notebook paper.

Think of it as an adventure in Walter Mitty's notebook… while he's off his meds.

The graphics are coming along swimmingly, the AI routines are actually holding their own and the entire project is moving along at a much faster clip than I had originally anticipated. I'm still not expecting it to be finished before the New Year, but at least I am expecting it to be finished now. The ultimate goal is to have a complete, made-from-scratch client/server framework on which to build future games as well (I've always got to do things the hard way.)

In the meantime, I'm also documenting the development process along the way. With luck, I'll not only have a relatively ambitious Flash game when I'm done, but I'll also have a decent supply of written tutorials and problem-solving hints to help other developers find their way through the real-time strategy maze.

Wish me luck, and stay tuned for details. Again.

For details on how the term "Ballistic Stroke" applies to drawing, doodling or writing, check out the term's Wikipedia entry here.

As the three people who still read this site may remember, I've been working on a new Flash game for a while now. I announced it a couple months ago, and so far, I realize I've produced very little evidence that I am, in fact, doing anything beyond producing the drivel you occasionally see posted here.

With that in mind, I would like to begin unveiling the "stars" of the new game, so I'll begin this week by introducing you to one of the foundational characters on which this new epic is based.

Keep in mind, I'm "sneak previewing" the new game's characters not to garner praise or criticism (although praise is surely appreciated), but to whet your appetite for the game and to prepare you for the state-of-the-art graphics, fantastic computerized special effects and flat-out artistic "je-ne-sais-quois" (That's French for "I don't know quois!") that will be unleashed this winter.

So may I now present to you, the unsuspecting reader: The star of our show, the main character of what will surely be known as The First Great Game of 2006™ (not really trademarked, and not really likely), the one, the only…

Doodle!

Yes, dammit: The star's name is Doodle.

You were expecting something a little flashier, maybe? Well… well so? Yeah, where's your game, then??

But hang on to your hats, people, 'cuz there are a lot more amazing things ahead.

Really!

By the way, I should also mention that Doodle's new game will probably not be ready until the New Year at the earliest (I told you it was going to be a big one, dammit!).