Day 40 - can I have some chocolate please?

So, that's forty days I've been doing this thing for.  Sounds ages, doesn't it?  And yet, it's been like the blink of an eye.  I reckon you can at least add a nought to the end of that before you'll see this finished, too.  Everything comes to he who waits, they say...


It also feels like it's been raining for forty days and forty nights.  Christ, it's depressing.  I can't believe there's any water left in the sky.  I suppose that the rain means I'm spending more time indoors, which means that I've got a bit more time to work on this book.  Even these miserable rain clouds have a silver lining.


Not that I've done any work on it today.  I've actually been playing a game on my XBox 360... something that I first played for free on the PC quite some time ago.  It's an intriguing little effort called Spelunky.

Bring you to your knees, it's a Bomber!

One of the things I've always wondered is whether the game was inspired at all by a crusty American C64 platformer called Spelunker.  I'm pretty sure it must have been, although that would imply that the programmers are getting on a bit, and I don't know if that's the case.  On the other hand, after Cave Story, there's not much else you could call a game that involves cave exploration.


It's a fun game, anyway, if a bit on the brutal side.  Something that I feel helps in this regards is the fact that the levels are randomised every time you play.  Obviously, that means you never play exactly the same game twice.  For a game made up of short levels, that's a great way to keep you playing even after you've finished it.


It's good to see games modelled on the old-school getting such a high profile these days.  Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with the massive 3D efforts that dominate the charts, but there's room for all kinds of games, not just the ones that look like Hollywood movies, and I like the fact that the industry seems to be realising that and catering for all tastes again.