Hi,
first, I want to announce the newest version of Gosu, the free 2D game
development library for Ruby and C++.
Version 0.7.8 features:
- Working font fallbacks, i.e. chars outside of the selected/default
font can be used. No more worrying about which font contains Kanji
characters or pictograms, just use UTF8 and be amazed at the correct
output. - Mac, Windows: In addition to system fonts, all of Gosu’s text system
can use .TTF files referenced by filename, effectively allowing you to
bundle your own fonts with your game. (On OS X, .OTF files should work
just fine, too.) - Another cool Chipmunk/RMagick demo by Robert Sheehan is included.
- The Ruby port has gotten the same support for RGB/HSV conversions
that the C++ version had for a while. - Bugfixes.
It is available via gem install gosu on OS X and Windows, but also
on Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting., which is also the place to go for
documentation.
Second, I would like to mention the Ludum Dare X competition here, an
48 hour, solo game development competition. The website has moved once
again to http://www.imitationpickles.org/ludum/.
For those who are new to the concept: There are three rounds of theme
voting (the second one is currently open). The results of the last
round will only be visible when voting is over, which is Friday
evening in US time zones. From then on, you have 48 hours to write a
game around the chosen theme, completely from scratch. Every
participant then gets to vote on all the other entries, and virtual
trophies are given for being among the top entries.
The competition website shows some of the innovative entries from the
past compos, but even if you end up with a buggy game and programmer
art, you probably have learnt a lot about productivity and time
management. Oh, and if you’re like me, you had fun 
With a range of
Ruby gamedev libraries being available, this should be a nice weekend.
Julian
