Firstly select the project file in the navigator, then select the target you wish to add a task to. Then select the "Build Phases" tab.

By default you will be presented with the following four "build phases":

Those are the steps which Xcode performs to convert the code you type in it into the code which your computer can understand.

Click the "Add Build Phase" button and select "Add Run Script" to add your own item to the "build phases" list.

The approach Xcode seems to want you to take is to type your script directory into this screen. If you do opt for that approach then there is a whole lot of placeholder values that are provided to you which can make life much easier.

The other fields on that screen will be immediately familiar (their purpose) to anyone who has done some shell scripting, so there is no need to explain them.

Some notes:

• Documentation on the placeholder values.
• You can rename the build phase by double clicking its title (you can see above that I have renamed mine to "Run Script - Compile Fact List".
• Drag the build to be in the order which you would like it to be for formed. (This can make it a pre-build task or a port-build task.)
• The script will be run from the root directory of your project.

Click "Tools" then "Options" to bring up the options window.

If you are primarily using C# then select "Text Editor" then "C#", then:

Select "General" and re-enable "Auto list members" and "Parameter information".

Now select "Advanced" and re-enable "Underline errors in the editor" and "Show live semantic errors".

That should do the trick … visual studio is back to its old self and behave the way you expect it to.

The machine I got is based off the cheapest configuration. I kept the slow Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 (1.66GHz) processor since I wont be doing anything too processor intensive (and because I’m on a budget). I went with the 6 cell battery and thre in a Wireless-N card. I also went with 2Gb of memory because we are still mostly using 32bit operating systems and don’t want to run into messy memory problems. Apart from that the system is standard, nothing fancy.

Of course while waiting for the system to get delivered I was doing a bit of searching to see what other people thought of the system, and found a number of problems which arise with this particular system (happens with every system these days). There are a number of possible problems, the most serious being a loud optical drive when you eject or insert media. Nothing too bad.

The first thing I did when I got the machine was to reinstall windows and get rid of those silly recovery partitions, Dell MediaDirect and all that crap. Simply put, the standard Windows Vista install disk accepts my Dell serial number, but the install does not work and Windows will not boot for some reason … you need to use the Dell Windows Vista disk )recovery disk or whatever they call it). Either way this will most likely only be until KDE 4.0 is released when I will probably install Debian or Kubuntu.

So once Windows is up and running I went through it pretty thoroughly to make sure I didnt have any of the obvious problems that other people were facing. Unfortunately I found a relatively rare one … when ejecting media from the optical drive the machine will freeze for about one or two seconds. This is definately at a hardware level because it happens while in BIOS too. So anyways I have called Dell about it and showed them some forum chatter from other people who have experienced the same issue. They are going to send someone out to replace the drive. I seriously hope that works because what do you think they will do next?

The compiler is easy, just type the following command into a terminal.

sudo apt-get install g++

Follow the prompts, this should install the compiler. Next, you might need the GLUT library, which can be installed (headers and development libraries) with the following command.

sudo apt-get install libglut3-dev

All set. Compile OpenGL code without any hitches.

What I'm surprised about is the lack of enthusiasm about the Orange Box! Seriously, I forgot that it was coming out, but I am still waiting until next week for the Xbox 360 version :-)

This is an example of a point.

And a vector from the origin to that point.

The length of the vector from its origin to end point is called the magnitude. This is the formula to calculate a vectors magnitude.

For comprehensive explanation on vectors check out the wikipedia entry.

Many of you who are interested in game development might not realize what the bigger picture is like and who is involved. I myself was quite surprised to discover the number of game development companies in Brisbane alone. Quite interesting.

Firstly I would like to draw attention to the Game Developers Association of Australia (GDAA) and to the Australian Game Developers Conference (AGDC).

The GDAA is a sort of club where developers from all around Australia can learn from each other. They also hold events for the industry and have guests from overseas.

The Australian Game Developers Conference is really just an annual event, and I think it might even be organized by the GDAA, not sure. They also don’t seem to have updated their archives since the 2004 event.

You can find relevant information on the official web sites:

• Game Developers Association of Australia
• Australian Game Developers Conference

I would also like to draw attention to news closer to my home, the state of Queensland. There is a web site called Queensland Games which focuses on the development efforts in Queensland for the gaming industry. They also have information like where you can story, and job opportunities. So click on over to their site and have a look:

• Queensland Games

There are also quite a few local game development companies, and apparently about 40% of the gaming industry in Australia is located in Queensland. A few of the sites mentioned above have their own list of local game development companies, but here is my own list … it is Queensland specific:

• Auran
• Wildfire Studios
• THQ Studio Australia
• Pandemic Studios
• Krome

Those are the major ones, I’m keeping this list short.

I hope someone finds this information useful.

Initially I though that they would just make the friends system a little more stable and do some lame excuse for a clan system with no real benefit. I was indeed suprised when almost every aspect of Steam had changed in some way! The features I liked the most ...

• Add links for other games on your computer
• See statistics about your friends playing habbits
• In-game interface which rivals Xfire

I always had an idea in my head of what Steam could potentially be, but every new update was never any closer to what I wanted. I can now say that Steam is very close to what I want it to be. Good job boys.