Brian Kesecker

Projects

Slapdash Plank

Can you overcome physics and the game of chance to win against your opponent? There are many strategies to discover!

Slapdash Plank is a game of strategy (and chance) with the objective to outsmart your opponent. It was created with the Unity 3D engine and Blender for models. Check out the development history on my Devlog!

Each turn you will get a random die from the standard set, and then decide how to throw the die to generate the highest value you can (or maybe the safest). If the die falls off the board, no points are awarded. Otherwise, the top-most value rolled is multiplied by the value of the plank landed on, and then your opponent will get the same die and be given a chance. When the remaining planks reaches zero, the game is over, and the player with the highest score wins.

On your turn, analyze the game board to find a target and position your view accordingly. Use the top-down view to help quickly decide. Consider factors like elevation, surrounding planks, and each die's unique physics, and then throw the die!

Platforms & Requirements

Microsoft Windows (supported), Linux (untested), MacOS (untested), Android (target), iOS (target)
Dedicated GPU
500 MB free RAM
250 MB free drive space
Mouse or keyboard plus touchscreen

Feature Roadmap (Unordered)

Game controller support
Local multi-player
Internet multi-player

Known Issues

Dice do not follow standard face numbering order
Dice can land on an edge, thus not falling on a face (in this case, the calculation will take the first face that matches the highest top face)
Left touch-pad button does not trigger a button press when simultaneously holding the tab key
Touchscreen does not dismiss help from title screen
Native resolutions higher than 1920x1080, or scaled higher than 100%, may result in choppy game play and crackling audio (see reference links)

Installation

Verify self-signed signature before installing! The installer AND executables are code signed, but not by a well-known Certificate Authority. Thus, Windows SmartScreen will likely prompt asking you to proceed. While code signing with a well-known Certificate Authority is not that big of an expense (about $250 for a 3 year cert), it is not something I can justify at this time for freeware.

Drive Rummager

After a bit of polish, Drive Rummager is available for download (from OneDrive or Google Drive). Drive Rummager enables brute force searching for terms and expressions under any directory structure. Software developers will find this functionality useful if they want to ensure they have changed terminology in multiple source controlled products (yes, some source control products provide this same functionality, but sometimes find things you do not care about too).

Look for help documentation and a YouTube video in the future. Unfortunately, if you have issues you will need to get in touch with me via social media. The last I checked it was most similar to FileLocator Pro/Lite (or Agent Ransack) by Mythicsoft, if you are looking for a more full-featured product.

Drive Rummager works with .NET 6 already, but I am not listing that as a feature (perhaps UWP and publish on the Windows Store in the future). Once I am ready I would like to open source Drive Rummager, but if you want to decompile or reverse engineer it with JetBrains dotPeek, I will encourage your efforts to make something better!

Requirements

Microsoft Windows OS that supports .NET Framework 4.8.

Feature Roadmap (Ordered)

Ignore files of type.
Save settings as JSON rather than XML.
Output results as a report.
Linux support.
Mac support.

Known Issues

Open File option from results context menu does not open the application related to the file's extension on all operating systems.
UI repaints rapidly when many hits are found.
Resize handles are not being displayed on the pane splitters, but are implemented.

Installation

Verify my self-signed signature before installing! The installer AND executables are code signed, but not by a well-known Certificate Authority. Thus, Windows SmartScreen will likely prompt asking you to proceed. While code signing with a well-known Certificate Authority is not that big of an expense (about $250 for a 3 year cert), it is not something I can justify at this time for freeware.

CarbyShop

A set of .NET libraries and applications that support hosting components of an XI game server.

If you are familiar with the Final Fantasy XI private server community, this may interest you. The software provided in the GitHub organization I created, CarbyShop, was originally ported from Darkstar Project and re-designed by myself specifically for Eden Server in Feburary 2020. I always intended to open source it, but did not get around to it until now. Thus, I put some polish on it and updated the code to the current private server functionality, so that I could share it with the community. The code is no where near perfect, but perhaps others in the community will see the value in it.

Behavioral Notes

This code manages memory and network connections gracefully. It should not require restarting.
In combination with xiloader updates made in branch xi-host, login and logout of multiple game clients from the same IP address is supported.
If maintenance is on, only accounts with GM characters can login and any non-GM character on the account will fail to character select with a world server maintenance error message. This reduces stress on the login during maintenance, so that accounts with GM characters can login with priority.