How I spent my Christmas Vacation

I've been working feverishly every night and weekend on my book. The first step is to do the code for the second section of the book, that introduces 2D programming concepts. To illustrate sprite programming I've created a game I call "Velocity" where you pilot a spaceship through rings while avoiding asteroids and the treacherous gravity wells of planets. I'm not much of an artist, but here is a screenshot of the game working on the test map (I plan to make one decent map to ship with the book). Click on the graphic for the larger version.




I may get a chance to improve the art before the book is finished (Mars and the asteroid Gaspra courtesy of NASA, but the ship and the ring are my fumbling attempt at art). I'm also doing 2 more versions of Velocity: one as a "2.5D" game and one as a 3D game from within the ship's cockpit.