On a more personal note, IMG contributor and man-about-town Matt Diamond has released Black Cube, his entry into the uDevGame contest.

Black Cube is a logic and deduction game for Mac OS X. Matt's version puts a twist on the classic "Black Box" logic game by extracting the playing field into three dimensions. Black Cube also offers the original 2D version of the game for players wanting to try the title in its original form.

Similar to the old computer classic Minesweeper, the object of the game is to find hidden pockets of dark matter within the playing board. You find the pockets by firing rays into the board, watching where they come out again, and deducting the positioning of the pockets through the game's refraction rules. Once you've guessed the position of the dark matter, you submit your guesses to the computer which then scores your performance.

Black Cube, currently at version 1.0.1, is Matt's submission for uDevGame 2002, the yearly game programming competition run by Macintosh game developer web site iDevGames. From their web site:

We hope that uDevGame will stimulate the creation of games on the Macintosh by encouraging people to develop new and original games for the platform. The need for qualified Macintosh programmers is greater now than ever thanks to Apple's exciting new operating system, MacOS X. Participants in uDevGame will actively help in the education of the Macintosh developers, as well as encourage and enhance the interest of those new to the platform. uDevGame draws attention to those that develop unique and exciting games for the Macintosh, as well as help introduce the best and brightest Macintosh game development talent to development houses and publishers alike.

Matt's Diamond's Black Cube

uDevGame 2002 Contest

iDevGames Mac Game Programming Resource Center

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