Anagram Generation

Heres a simple algorithm I developed to test if a word can be made out of the given letters.

1. Fill a 255 sized array with zeroes
2. Loop through the given letters, converting them to ascii and then incrementing that location in the array
3. Get a word from the dictionary file
4. Do steps 1 and 2 again with the word from the dictionary file.
5. If any of the locations in the second array are bigger than the 1st, the word is not an anagram
6. Else, add the word a list
7. Go back to step 3 untill you are out of words in the dictionary file.

Edit:

Heres a proof of concept for that algorithm. I also made a little bot to type it for you. I'd suggest having a copy of notepad running when you use this.

source code and dictionary file included.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A1XVC576

Demo Rising

Okay, so a beta Demo of Maze Plus should be up soon. Its just one level. The Menu systems aren't implemented yet, so its just a preview of the puzzle system and the graphics, which still need tweaked a bit.
Please realize that this is an early work in progress, and I'll probably release another version before the final project's released. See 2 posts ago with the road map for more info on this.


UPDATE:
The beta demo is now available for download. Post on the comments for this post for any problems/questions/bug reports.

link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=45MINNBI

Mazes Plus current state and road map.

I'm still plugging away at my maze program. My most current version is shown to the left. I just finished the texture generation code for the walls and floor. I still need to do the buttons (currently green rectangles) and make the sky look a bit better. I still have alot to do, so I'm listing how development should be going.

0.0.1 Set up a simple one polygon Map, with the ability for the player to walk around.

0.0.2 Make a simple 4 wall room with basic collision detection.

0.0.3 Set up buttons, and allow the player to use them

0.0.4 Set up the begining of texturing

0.1.0 Basics of the world set up and working (currently here)

0.1.1 Collision Detection set up completely

0.1.2 Doors added

0.1.3 Doors interact with buttons

0.1.4 End of level flag added/implememnted

0.2.0 One complete level set up, Public Beta released

0.2.1 Menu system set up

0.2.2 Level from file support added

0.3.0 Multilevel support

0.3.1 Communications added, (allows the program to put messages up on the player's screen)

0.3.2 Tutorial Level Added

0.3.3 All other levels (aprox 16) completed

0.4.0 Demo released

0.4.1 Reserved for Bug Fixes

0.4.2 Reserved for Bug Fixes

0.5.0 Audio Support added (if time allows)

1.0.0 "Completed" Product released

1.0.1 Reserved for Bug Fixes

1.1.0 Modified for mod support (Map maker should be released some time around here)

1.2.0 Bug fixes

1.3.0 Program 'finished'. No more work to be done, except for any necessary bug fixes.



I'll probably have a playable game ready some time during summer.

Orbiter on the launch pad.

I've been wanting to blog about this game for a while. Its called Orbiter. Orbiter is a flight simulator, but its mainly designed for flying in space. Yes, the default game comes with all of the planets and a good number of moons. Ever wonder what it'd be like to fly to Venus, or launch a satellite on a Mars? Well now you can try it out.




Not that you'll be able to really do much when you first get it, the learning curve is pretty tough. I'd recomend searching for some autopilot mods. Even someone who's been playing flight sims for years, such as myself, will still take a few hours before you can 'properly' land the shuttle.
I'd really recomend you download as many mods for the game as you can, or else you'll never be tempted to do much more than a few flights.
There are mods to increase realism, replay historic missions, or even build your own space station!
The requirememnts are pretty low (I was running a virus scan when taking the screenshots), which is good, considering you'll be running on accelerated time alot (unless you feel like waiting a year to get to mars).

I'm running my own pretend space agency, and I'm documenting it a bit. Be sure to look out for that.















Get Orbiter :

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/

Get Addons:

http://www.orbithangar.com/

Websites that can get you free stuff.

I've been trying out some of those 'win free stuff' sites over the last few months, and it does turn out that some of them do work. Most of these are trying to establish a user base by rewarding users from using their searchengine/site. Sites are listed from best to worse.


1. Swag Bucks
Site : swagbucks.com
Time to get a reward: About 1-2 weeks for a $5 amazon gift card.
Ship time: Less than a week.

Swag bucks offers a wide variety of prizes. You earn 2-4 points a day for using their search engine. It took me about 2 weeks to get my first gift card from them, and I cashed it in to confirm that its a valid amazon card. Highly Recomended


2. PikaGames
Site : www.pikagames.com
Time to get a reward: 2-3 months for a copy of fallout 3, much longer for anything else.
Ship time: unknown.

PikaGames is a flash game host much like newgrounds, you get one point each time you play a game, with a maximimum of about 40 points a day. It also features a nice facebook/myspace like area for making friends to talk to while playing the games. There are two problems with this site, however. First, It takes a fairly long time to get anything worth while. Secondly, because the site is so new, I haven't been able to find any accounts of people getting anything yet, so I cannot confirm if this site is legit. Its still fun to play flash games, even if you don't get anything, so I'm recomending it.

3. E-rewards/ U.Talk.Back
Site: Invite only, sorry
Time to get a reward: about 3 months for a $25 gift card.
Ship time: A month

These two sites are survey sites hosted by the company that owns gamestop. Its not too bad, except alot of times the surveys will take a long time to do, only to have it say that it cannot be accepted because you don't fit who they're trying to test. Still worth while, however there are alot better sites out there.

4. Microsoft's Live Search Club
Site: club.live.com
Time to get a reward: one day to 3 months, depending on the reward / how much time put in each day
Ship time: A month to 3 months to never

This site offers alot of really nice free stuff, but you really have to work for it. It sounds really nice, but its really flawed. Shipping times are way too long, and I still haven't recieved half of the stuff I ordered back in december. Their Support E-mail does nothing but send a blanket statement about their site. Not recomended.

5. PrizeRebel
Site:prizerebel.com
Time to get a reward: Unknown
Ship time: Unknown

This site seems pretty old, it has a ton of 'free offers' that you have to give your email for, or something to that extent. This site has a huge problem in that its really up to luck on wether or not you'll actually get credited for the things you do. In the 5 months I used this site, I didn't get enough credits for one single thing!