I did some research into how to make ebooks today. I ran across this article called 4 Ways to Create an ePub eBook which was extremely helpful.
Epubs are Specialized Zip Files
It turns out that ebooks are simply renamed zip files. If you download an epub to your computer and change the extesion to “.zip” you’ll be able to open it and see how it works.
A Web Developers Tools for Making eBooks
There is a free software tool called Calibre that can be used to edit ebooks. I downloaded it and tried it. It let’s you directly edit the html and css of a epub file (which is pretty neat!).
There’s another tool (which I haven’t tried yet) called Sigil Ebook.
The interface isn’t the best I’ve ever seen but many of the backgrounds are pretty impressive. All icons, brushes, textures, etc, are free for both personal and commercial use. So it might be a useful resource.
Pyxel Edit sounds like a great program for making tile maps or pixel art. The best part about this program is that it makes it easy to make seamless tile-sets for a game (or even a website).
The article mentioned that his video went from several megabytes down to 319kb. This interested me, because if you want to use a video background on a website, you really want it to load fast.
Clip Champ requires you to log in with either a Facebook or Google account.
They have a free account that will let you convert up to 5 videos. They also have a professional version for $9 per month that allows for unlimited video conversions.
In addition to letting your convert videos they also have a WordPress plugin that allows you to collect videos from your users, and makes sure they arrive to you in a consistent and compressed format.
HandBrake – A Free Alternative
After writing this, I figured there had to be alternative ways of compressing videos.
One thing I found was called Handbrake which is free and open source. I also found this short tutorial. After using it for a while I’ve become deeply impressed with Handbrake. It’s hands-down the best video compression software I’ve ever used. Easily reducing file sizes to 1/10th the original size. If you crank up the compression further, you can get extremely small video files. This makes it piratical to use HTML5 video on a website.
I just found a really cool website that lets you publish board games. I find this very interesting as I might be interested in making a card or board game at some point in the future.
This is a great Disney medley that’s perfect for working. I often listen to it at work.
Enjoy…
I especially enjoy the soft jazz “Alice in Wonderland” starting at 13:59.
Here is a complete list of the songs on this video…
1. Someday My Prince Will Come (From “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”)00:00 2. Once Upon A Dream(From”Sleeping Beauty”)02:11 3. Cinderella Medley (From “Cinderella”)05:52 4. Someone’s Waiting For You(From“The Rescuers”)09:48 5. Alice In Wonderland (From “Alice In Wonderland”)13:59 6. Winnie The Pooh Theme Song (From”Winnie The Pooh”)17:55 7. Second Star To The Right (From “Peter Pan”)20:33 8. La La Lu(From”Lady And The Tramp”)24:27 9. Beauty and the Beast(From“Beauty and the Beast”)27:20 10. Home(From“Beauty and the Beast”)30:05 11. A Whole New World (From “Aladdin”)34:32 12. Proud of Your Boy(From”Aladdin Broadway”)37:13 13. Part of Your World(From “The Little Mermaid”)39:47 14. Go The Distance(From “Heracules”)43:23 15. Reflection(From “Mulan”)46:24 16. Color of The Wind (From “Pocahontas”)50:40 17. Out There (From “Hunchback of Notre Dame”)54:39 18. God Help The Outcasts (From “Hunchback of Notre Dame”)59:06 19. I See The Light(From “Tangled”)1:02:34 20. Magical Moment(From“Disneyland”)1:06:42 21. So Close(From “Enchanted”)1:10:18 22. You’ve Got A Friend In Me(From “Toy Story”)1:13:16 23. When She Loved Me(From “Toy Story 2”)1:16:37 24. Bella Notte(From”Lady And The Tramp”)1:19:50 25. When You Wish Upon A Star (From “Pinocchio”)1:24:01
We’re looking for a few good Turret Masters to protect our colony and improve our defense system. Qualifying cadets need to know their way around a laser turret, and be willing to give constructive feedback.
I found this tile set for creating RPG (think the Legend of Zelda) dungeons. It’s nice artwork, and feel pretty complete. It has treasure chests, doors, keys, stairs, barrels, switches, gold, etc. It also has animated torches and water.
I’m currently working on a game involving a dragon that navigates tunnels. Click the mouse to go up. Release to go down. Also works with touch screens.
Snapdrop.net let’s you send files between computers with no logins or accounts. It’s easy and straight forward.
Unlike services like Dropbox or Google Drive, Snapdrop doesn’t appear to store your files anywhere. It’s sent once. it’s no longer available for download. So it probably isn’t a great way to collect photos from clients. Rather it’s a great way to send a file from one computer to another without a lot of setup or complication. It’s device agnostic which means to you can use it to send a file from an iPhone to an Android Phone, or from a tablet to a PC.
If you’re interested in the technical aspects, check out their github.
Several Years ago I wrote a book called “How To Have Fund in Rexburg“. I spent months researching, taking photos, and designing the book. At last I finished the book which was a very satisfying project. I sold a number of copies to friends and acquaintances, and talk with the BYU-I bookstore about further distribution. Unfortunately, this never quite got off the ground. After a while, I let it go. I was please with the final product and I learned a lot from it (even if I didn’t really make much money from the project).
I shared these articles on Facebook and enjoyed moderate success. Several of my recent articles enjoyed sharp spikes of traffic. Thousands of people have viewed the website, and I’ve received generally positive feedback from the public. Still I haven’t been quite satisfied. I designed the layout myself, but time constraints and demands of life forced me to make it live before truly polishing the layout or design details. After all, I could always go back and improve it (which is something I still plan to do).
Sometimes it’s better to get something out there, than to hold it back until they’re perfect, so I settled for “good enough” with plans to eventually go back and improve the finer details. One problem I know I’ve faced is the SEO was never properly considered. As such, it’s never ranked very high in the search engines. Today, I actually went back and fixed some of the SEO related problems with hopes that it may begin to rank better on Google. I guess we’ll see how it goes.
What are your thoughts? Was I wrong to publish the site before I was completely satisfied? Does the site accomplish it’s goal? I’d love your feedback.
I bought Bit Blaster XL on Steam recently. It had great reviews and was make by a guy not unlike myself (someone learning to make games in his spare time).
The game is simple but fun (very much in the spirit of the old arcade classics). The controls are simple. It even fires for you unless you change the settings to manual (which I did).
There is a good variety of enemies, and you can upgrade your ship as you collect coins. From a physiology stand-point, upgrading to new ships kept me playing longer.
The game is currently $0.50 (50% off as of June 29th). If you have a steam account and like classic arcade games, go give it a try!
Sound image is a collection of game-worth music all written by one guy named Eric Matyas. Pretty impressive. His music is free as long as you give him credit.
Below are a few pieces I might consider using.
80’s SPACE GAME LOOP – Might be nice in a space shooter game or app. (00:34)
INSERT QUARTER – Vaguely in the mode of 80s arcade games. (00:32)
COOL ADVENTURE INTRO – Might be fun under titles/menus for an upbeat game. (00:34)
GOBLIN LOOP – might be fun in an RPG or some kind of fantasy game. (00:28)
I just found a really cool website that lets you publish board games. I find this very interesting as I might be interested in making a card or board game at some point in the future.
