jamesthomson

jamesthomson, 2 days ago to random

This is oddly satisfying in VR. One of these days I might make an actual game!

A man destroys a wall with a series of dice and other objects fired from his fingertips. This is clearly the killer app for the Vision Pro.

jamesthomson, 5 days ago to random

I'm looking for people with Vision Pros to give me some feedback on the PCalc About screen. I think it's at the point where it's fun to play around with (if still wildly pointless). You can join the beta here:

https://testflight.apple.com/join/6l5z8Rmu

Thanks!

A man fires dice into the air from his fingertips for no readily apparent reason.

jamesthomson, 5 days ago to random

Apple still writing xrOS on all their cheques.

jamesthomson, 17 days ago to random

Achievement unlocked, rolled a virtual dice with my hands.

A pair of hands made of bananas pick up a giant D20 and throw it, in VR.

jamesthomson, 17 days ago to random

“Shooting dice from your hands while standing on top of the plane works as you would expect.” is certainly a sentence I just typed into TestFlight.

jamesthomson, 18 days ago to random

People ask me, “How's your mental health doing at the moment, James?”.

I trust this answers the question.

A man shoots bananas out of his hands in VR. It’s unclear why.

jamesthomson, 18 days ago to random

It is a lot of fun messing around with physics on the Vision Pro though.

Enormous cereal boxes are bouncing in VR. Again, it is not entirely clear why.

jamesthomson, 23 days ago (edited 23 days ago) to random

Like many people, I had my Apple ID locked last night, and it was a big hassle trying to get it unlocked and working again.

One tip - when you go through all the rigmarole to get it going again, one thing that doesn't switch on by default is receiving iMessages or FaceTime calls via your Apple ID. So, like me, you will probably be missing messages until you reenable those in Settings. Also, if you send somebody a new iMessage it will default to your phone number which may not be what you want.

jamesthomson, 24 days ago to random

Yes, these release notes sound like me.

Here's something to play with if you have a Vision Pro!

https://testflight.apple.com/join/6l5z8Rmu

jamesthomson, 26 days ago to random

Saving this somewhere safe for June!

jamesthomson, 26 days ago to random

Yes, I did see the MacRumors article. Yes, it's fine.

jamesthomson, 1 month ago to random

Time to retire I guess!

(Apple's sales reporting is currently telling developers they have made millions of dollars in sales over the last 24 hours)

jamesthomson, 1 month ago to random

Flying around the PCalc About screen on visionOS is quite fun. I'm using hand tracking to get the direction to fly in, and moving when you pinch your thumb and middle finger together.

https://testflight.apple.com/join/6l5z8Rmu

A video of flying around the PCalc map, looping round a castle, and ending up face to face with a dragon.

jamesthomson, 1 month ago to random

When the local TARDIS regenerates from being a woman back into being a man again.

A police box labelled “Coffee Joe’s”

jamesthomson, 1 month ago to random

Experiments in movement in a visionOS immersive space using hand tracking to paint targets on the ground, and making a gesture to move there.

It's pretty messy right now, but there might be something!

Navigating around a virtual space by lines from your hands painting targets on the ground. Also, your hands are bananas, but that's a minor detail.

jamesthomson, 1 month ago to random

I'm looking forward to an official Apple definition of the word “retro”.

jamesthomson, 1 month ago to random

Does anybody have any tips for generating a concave CollisionComponent in RealityKit?

I have some fairly simple geometry I'm loading from a usdz which I'd like to add a nicer fitting CollisionComponent to for accurate raycasting, but the closest thing is ShapeResource.generateConvex, which doesn't deal with holes.

jamesthomson, 1 month ago to random

Tired: Starting Baldur's Gate 3 again.

Wired: Starting Divinity: Original Sin 2 again.

jamesthomson, 1 month ago to random

Current state of the PCalc About screen on visionOS. Watch for a surprise!

TestFlight build here:
https://testflight.apple.com/join/6l5z8Rmu

I wander around the PCalc About screen in VR, and then my hands turn into bananas.

jamesthomson, 1 month ago to random

British people of a certain age, who remember Goodness Gracious Me's "Going for an English" sketch, and who have also played Baldur's Gate 3, I suggest you watch the sketch again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-uEx_hEXAM

jamesthomson, 2 months ago to random

Achievement unlocked: Made myself feel motion sick while wearing a Vision Pro using my own code.

jamesthomson, 2 months ago to random

“Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story” - out today - is a wonderful interactive love letter to the early career of @llamasoft_ox.

I will not stop saying that Jeff single-handedly inspired me to get into programming, and all the whimsical nonsense in PCalc is basically his fault.

Now I want a volume 2 that covers the 2000s onwards!

A shot of the timeline of Llamasoft, focused on my favourite Jeff Minter game “Revenge of the Mutant Camels”.

jamesthomson, 2 months ago to random

Remember when we all made tiny Mac laptops out of a Dell mini 9?

The back of a Dell mini 9 with an six colour Apple logo added over the Dell logo.
A Dell mini 9 next to a slightly trashed white plastic MacBook.

jamesthomson, 2 months ago to random

Can I simultaneously think that Epic are a bunch of chancers, while also really disliking Apple's handling of them? Yes.

jamesthomson, 2 months ago to random

I’ve got a great product idea for Apple. It’s a market that can bring in recurring revenue through consumables. One that has a variety of existing poor products with bad user interfaces, buggy software, and privacy issues.

Printers.