Backed up from a local Blogger export (113955626858042976/113955626858042976.html) on 2026-01-01.

I put some more time into backroom holdem. I’m still really amazed at the art that was put together by Ryan. Even thouh the largest piece is 2d 176x208 it was all put together in Max and just looks downright cool. Even the back of the cards was rendered from a full 3d scene. The sunset palm tree is my favorite.

I’m feel good about the game design, although it is a simple card game we have found a theme and there is a bunch ways that I’ve found to build on the theme to enhance it. I recently added chatter to gameplay so you get an idea of the personalities of the various AI opponents. I tried to keep a consistent speaking style for each AI actor.

I fixed some lingering bugs in the animation system and polished some of the menu and game screen animations. On the game screen the chat window and action window slide smoothly out of the way when you select an action and then back into view when it’s time to select an action. I need to adjust your pocket so that it sits on top of this window.

The action window shows the current best hand (this should be configurable in options), bet ammount, and list of actions that you can select.

In ‘Gun’ they have a cheat mode in their holdem mini game when you play Easy or Normal. They place a card behind the pocket that you can use a live swap. I think you can only stash a card for swapping after your first hand.