Both India and Zak were spoilt rotten over Christmas this year. Zak was understandably overwhelmed by the whole occasion, but India loved every moment.

Anyway, a couple of pictures:

I got sent this great little piece in my inbox today but unfortunately, much as I'd love to belive it, it's an urban myth. Anyway, it's still a great joke so here it is:

KILLER BISCUITS WANTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER

Linda Brunet, 23, a resident of San Diego, was visiting her in-laws and while there went to a nearby supermarket to pick up some groceries. Several people noticed her sitting in her car with the windows rolled up and with her eyes closed, with both hands behind the back of her head.

One customer who had been at the store for a while became concerned and walked over to the car. He noticed that Linda's eyes were now open, and she looked very strange. He asked her if she was okay, and Linda replied that she'd been shot in the back of the head, and had been holding her brains in for over an hour. The man called the paramedics, who broke into the car because the doors were locked and Linda refused to remove her hands from her head.

When they finally got in, they found that Linda had a wad of bread dough on the back of her head. A Pillsbury biscuit canister had exploded from the heat, making a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot, and the wad of dough hit her in the back of her head. When she reached back to find out what it was, she felt the dough and thought it was her brains.

She initially passed out, but quickly recovered and tried to hold her brains in for over an hour until someone noticed and came to her aid.

And, yes, Linda is a blonde.

Well, it's done!

Many, many thanks to Chris Marshall for all the effort he put in to the game.

reptonsetup.zip (723.45 KB)

If anyone wants to extend the game (or simply find out how bad my code is!) you can join the workspace on GotDotNet at: http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/Workspaces/Workspace.aspx?id=908ed5a1-e09e-414b-92fb-df17a36fd0a0. If anyone wants to take ownership of the code, they're more than welcome - just let me know and I'll transfer ownership of the workspace to you. I've got more work than I know what to do with at the moment, and with another baby arriving in April next year, I simply can't see that I'll have any time to continue with this project.

Anyway, as it stands it's fully playable. All the maps from Repton 3, Repton Thru Time, Life Of Repton and Around The World In 40 Screens are implemented.

The tested platforms for this game are:

Windows 2000/XP, .NET Framework 1.1, DirectX 9.0b

Both DirectX 9.0b and .NET Framework 1.1 can be downloaded from Windows Update.

I'll admit it, I'm a wimp. For three very good reasons (India, Zak and the soon to be announced offspring Version 3.0) I've decided that at some point soon I'm going to have to get a vasectomy. Ironic really seeing as Bec and I were told a few years ago that the chances of us every having children was vanishingly remote, but I digress.

Anyway, wanting to know more about the procedure I did a quick bit of googling, and found this site. Warning! Any males following this link may wish to cross their legs...

I can't take any of the credit for the latest updates to Repton.NET; I've been totally snowed under with other work, and therefore haven't been able to do any development for the past month or so. Chris on the other hand has been doing sterling work on the project, and has implemented a large number of the things that were missing. The game is now essentially playable, with the notable exception that the Fungus doesn't 'grow' in the maps at the moment.

A word of warning however; don't attempt to enter a password - you won't get very far!