docs/links.md

@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ These are in no particular order, just links to sites I highly recommend:
 * <https://www.stevestreeting.com/> - Unreal and general gamedev tips from Steve Streeting, creator of [Ogre](https://www.ogre3d.org/), [Sourcetree](https://sourcetreeapp.com/) and others.
 * <https://grumpygamer.com/> - Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island, etc).
 * <https://nivrig.com/> - Games by John Girvin.
-* <https://runevision.com/> - Really interesting discussions of procgen tech, game design, and more.
 * <https://www.ascorbius.com/> - Elite Dangerous story videos and general muppetry from an awesome chap.
 * <https://glassbottomgames.com/> - SkateBIRD and more.
 * <https://www.stevehammond.org/> - Formerly of DMA design, writing and UFOs.

docs/projectshinar/history.md

@@ -1,189 +0,0 @@
-
-# Project Shinar: A Bit of History
-
-## The original inspiration
-
-Cast your mind back if you will, dear reader, to the heady days of 1991[^1].
-The Soviet Union collapsed, the first Gulf War ended, the World Wide Web
-was released outside CERN to other research institutions, and the first website
-ever was published. Amidst all of these and many other huge events, one
-event in particular had an impact on my young self that may be responsible
-for where I am today: this was the year my brothers and I got an [Amiga 500](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500)
-for Christmas.
-
-We were pretty late to the Amiga really, but my family weren't exactly well
-off and the Amiga wasn't cheap. It took some saving to buy the system. As a
-family we'd gone to a small shop called Stewart Electronics on Penny Meadow
-in Ashton-under-Lyne[^2], and we brought the new computer home on a rattly
-old bus while we poured over the box. The set we got came with a bundle of
-games[^3], and one of those games was Tower of Babel.
-
-Tower of Babel had been released the year before for the Amiga, programmed by
-Pete Cooke and published by Rainbird Software, a label of [MicroProse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroProse).
-It was effectively a port of an Atari ST game, so it didn't really take
-full advantage of the Amiga's capabilities - with the perspective provided
-by many years of distance, it is pretty obvious that the sound effects are
-basic and crude, the graphics are at best functional, and the framerate
-on a stock A500 was... not great.
-
-That said, coming from a [ZX Spectrum 128](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum#ZX_Spectrum_128)
-it blew us away: the graphics, sound, and speed _were_ way ahead of anything
-we were used to. ToB was played a lot to begin with, in part because it was a fun puzzle
-game, but perhaps more so because it included a level editor! We could build
-our own levels and challenge each other to finish them - always a good source of
-fun between brothers (or arguments anyway). Inevitably it fell by the wayside
-as more games were acquired, but even now I still have a copy of ToB in my 
-WinUAE install.
-
-## So, what was it then?
-
-The name of comes from a somewhat strained attempt at providing the 
-background for the game: the construction of the Tower of Babel attracts the 
-attention of passing aliens who leave three robots to help the Shinarians 
-with their work on the Tower. Human nature being what it is, things go 
-pear-shaped, and the humans turn on the robots. The player controls the three
-robots as they attempt to traverse levels (called 'towers') full of traps, 
-puzzles, and creatures so they can collect their power supplies and escape.
-
-![Screenshot](../assets/images/shinar/tob_front1.png){ width=320 }
-![Screenshot](../assets/images/shinar/tob_front2.png){ width=320 }
-
-Leaving dubious biblical references to one side, the game itself has you controlling 
-the imaginatively named "Zapper", "Pusher", and "Grabber" robots: Zapper has 
-a laser beam you use to blow things up, Pusher has a repeller beam to push 
-things away from it, while Grabber has a tractor beam to collect the 
-all-important power supplies and turn on a few different devices around the 
-towers.
-
-Tower Of Babel's supplied 'towers' are split into 13 groups of 9 towers, each of
-which puts you in control of one, two, or three robots. Each level has varying
-objectives - you might need to collect a given number of the power supplies 
-and/or destroy a given number of objects, and there may be a time limit in 
-which you need to complete the objectives (for some reason that is never 
-explained.)
-
-The levels themselves are formed from coloured squares in a chequerboard 
-pattern, up to 8x8 floor squares in horizontal size, and with up to four 
-floors. Travel between different floors is via grey 'lift' squares that 
-can go up or down at most one floor. When objects, including the robots, 
-move around the level they may only do so along the cardinal directions 
-- they can not move diagonally - and only one object may occupy a given
-square at a time.
-
-![Screenshot](../assets/images/shinar/tob_level1.png){ width=320 }
-![Screenshot](../assets/images/shinar/tob_level2.png){ width=320 }
-![Screenshot](../assets/images/shinar/tob_level3.png){ width=320 }
-![Screenshot](../assets/images/shinar/tob_front3.png){ width=320 }
-
-
-## And so to Project Shinar
-
-I've done game dev, on and off, for almost as long as I have had access to a
-computer[^4], but almost none of the things I've done have really come close 
-to a state where I'd release them[^5]. I'd always either end up losing 
-interest or, more likely, end up going down rabbit holes trying to write my 
-own engine and end up never actually _making a game_. During 2017 I got it 
-into my head that I wanted to learn Unity and hopefully make something I'd 
-_actually release_. I started casting around for ideas for what to make, but
-inspiration eluded me.
-
-Then one day I was clearing out boxes in the attic[^6] and came across [the manual](https://archive.org/details/AstraPack_Tower_Of_Babel_Amiga/_Manual01_1200/) for
-Tower of Babel in a box of old manuals and papers. This set me wondering, could 
-I use ToB as inspiration for a game to build while learning Unity? I didn't 
-want to straight up _clone_ the game, but it did start a chain of design ideas 
-for ways to take the core ideas of the game - the three robots, having them 
-coordinate to solve puzzles in a 3D world - and see what could be done without 
-the restrictions of late 1980s/early 1990s technology.
-
-It was late 2019 before I'd actually worked out what I wanted to do, and
-really started learning Unity to make it work. A key piece of the puzzle came 
-when playing with possible designs for turrets in Lightwave when Winamp[^7] 
-randomly chose the [Overture](https://youtu.be/iOCKc917XdA?si=pjdvRslTB2wWsgGr)
-track from the [TRON: Legacy soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ncZEqIkjEY-qvlzl_5FVk3JUwGNGFxjwU)[^8]
-and I suddenly realised: what if I took the core mechanics from Tower of Babel
-and set it inside a TRON-like world inside a computer? Lots of ideas suddenly
-started to slot into place
-
-- The three robots are robotic agents being controlled by the player trying
-  to infiltrate a big computer system and extract data from it.
-- The TRON-inspired setting allows for manageable assets: fairly low poly 
-  objects with relatively simple textures that add glowing edges, and no
-  need for organic-like objects (making those has always been my nemesis.)
-- The TRON-inspired setting also gives scope for naming things in a TRON-like 
-  way: referencing computer parts, systems, or programs for areas the game 
-  happens in, naming the robots after CPU assembler mnemonics (even M68k ones!), 
-  and naming entities found in levels in a similar fashion.
-- Time limits for levels can be explained as runtime limits on the 
-  program the robots were working in.
-- With the scope of more memory, CPU power, and graphics power, I can
-  allow larger levels, and more programming steps per robot.
-
-I threw away the turret design I had been working on, and started building
-something that looked like it could exist in the TRON world, and quickly came
-to the conclusion that this _would work_
-
-![Screenshot](../assets/images/shinar/shinar_turret_2019.png){ width=320 }
-/// caption
-The first turret object from 2019-12-17
-///
-
-Before long I had a list of features, NPCs, and level mechanics that took 
-ideas from Tower of Babel and enhanced them or added entirely new systems, 
-like  wall-mounted signal emitters that beams could activate to send signals,
-and those signals could turn things on or off, open barriers, or even move 
-lifts.
-
-Progress was still really slow, though - I had a lot of trouble focusing in 
-the latter part of 2019 and early 2020 _for some reason_. During the first 
-lockdown, [Ascorbius](https://www.ascorbius.com/) started doing gamedev 
-livestreams and I regularly joined the chat for those. Those livestreams
-and conversations really helped my enthusiasm, and I really got into the
-development properly. 
-
-I'm going to fast-forward a bit here, because this is long and rambly enough 
-as it is.
-
-By mid 2023 I had released several alpha versions of Project Shinar,
-and by that point a fair bit of the game was working: levels could be 
-completed, a lot of entities had been made and worked, the built-in level 
-editor was functional, and I was starting work on the interface the player
-would use to move between different zones in the computer.
-
-[And then The Unity Debacle of Sept 2023 happened](https://jeremiahfieldhaven.itch.io/project-shinar/devlog/588210/halting-development-in-unity).
-
-To say I was put out would be something of an understatement. I could have
-carried on with Unity, realistically I wasn't affected by their change, but
-I'd be forever worried about them doing something else that would cause me 
-trouble, and continuing to support them in any way just felt wrong.
-
-So I needed a new engine. And while I wasn't starting from scratch again -
-I knew many of the assets could be used in any other engine - I knew I was
-going to end up redoing several years of work.
-
-By mid-October 2023, I'd settled on Unreal as the replacement. Another 
-page will probably be in the works about my experience moving from Unity 
-to Unreal...
-
-![Screenshot](../assets/images/shinar/shinar_work_2023.png){ width=320 }
-/// caption
-The first screenshot I have from Unreal of work on the rebuild.
-///
-
-[^1]: If we had more budget, there'd be a wobbly effect around the screen
-now, but wobbly effects? In this economy?
-[^2]: I do really miss these small, local, family-run shops. Stewart Electronics
-seems to have made it into the early 2010s by pivoting to AV equipment, but has
-gone the way of so many shops like it.
-[^3]: I am _fairly_ sure it was the [Astra Pack](https://amiga.abime.net/games/view/astra-pack).
-DataStorm (another game in that pack, a Defender clone) was another source of endless
-familiar competition as we battled for increasingly ludicrous high scores.
-[^4]: Modifying type-in programs in where it started, and it just went down-hill from there.
-[^5]: One Amiga game had come close... i was almost ready to get some friends to
-test it when the 40MB hard drive that all the game sources were on shat itself.
-I had no backups. Now I make backups.
-[^6]: I swear they bloody multiply. Leave a few boxes in the attic, and next time
-you look there's a dozen of them...
-[^7]: Yes, I still use Winamp 5.666, with the [Drone](https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/winamp/1263/) skin.
-[^8]: If you've never listened to it, stop what you're doing and go listen to it now. 
-Seriously. Especially [Flynn Lives](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D-jnfz9L3c). It 
-is an _awesome_ soundtrack, and some of Daft Punk's finest work.

mkdocs.yml

@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@ site_name: Starforge
 site_url: https://www.starforge.co.uk/site
 nav:
   - Home: index.md
-  - Project Shinar:
-    - History: projectshinar/history.md
   - About: about.md
   - Links: links.md
 theme:
@@ -18,13 +16,9 @@ theme:
     - navigation.tabs
 plugins:
   - privacy
-  - glightbox
-  - open-in-new-tab
 markdown_extensions:
   - attr_list
   - footnotes
-  - md_in_html
-  - pymdownx.blocks.caption
   - pymdownx.emoji:
       emoji_index: !!python/name:material.extensions.emoji.twemoji
       emoji_generator: !!python/name:material.extensions.emoji.to_svg