05/07/03: The Lull

A very descriptive title, I know, but it's true.  So it's ten o'clock at night, and I should probably actually get to sleep, but I'm a really big dork, and I want to work on my website, so here I am!  Anyway, I know I didn't write a daily log for the last class period, but I was trying so hard to actually get something accomplished that I figured trying to update my website as well was just asking for it.  I did manage to get something productive accomplished--I got the program to recognize when the user was near an exhibit and clicked the mouse.  When that happens, the museum recognizes the exhibit and opens the video file.  It's very impressive and happy. =)

I think the next step (aside from finishing writing all the nasty code-ish bits up for Progress Report #10 and commenting the code and all that to update the Code section) is to do the collision detection, but I really don't want to!  I know!  I could put it off yet again by figuring out someway for the computer to read in a bitmap or tga file of the blueprint of the museum and automatically draw the walls and et cetera...or not.  But it's a good idea for a continuation of the project.  I could also put up maps of the museum or figure out a way to make a subwindow showing where in the museum the user is...hmmm...there's an idea.  I used to have a subwindow in the Imagining the Future version of the code; maybe I'd better dig it out and see if I can put it back in.  I had to take it out for the screengrab function, but I can make it so that it automatically turns off when the screengrab function is on.

But yeah, I've finally come up with a working blueprint of the Technological Innovations wing of the museum. You can see the revised blueprint here.  The program has also been revised to include this wing and the walls therein, and an exhibit showing the Wrights Brothers' flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina has been added to the museum.  Hmmm.  I'm thinking that's it, but now that the museum is actually up and running in its barest form, I really want to stuff it chock-ful of exhibits so I'll honestly be working on that as much as possible now.