Iron Roads Retargeted to SilverLight 3.0

The big news today is that Silverlight 3.0 has been released. This is means a change for Iron Roads. I've been working with Silverlight 2.0 and could probably finish it just fine without upgrading to 3.0. There is, however, one feature in particular that compels me to retarget to Silverlight 3.0: Out of Browser Support. This allows users to install Iron Roads as a typical desktop or downloadable game. The real killer part? It doesn't require any extra downloading. Once they install the Silverlight 3.0 plug-in for the browser nothing new is required to run the desktop version.
So if someone plays Iron Roads in the browsers, they can install the desktop version without needing some prerequisites aka long boring downloads. I'm very exited about this feature, and I will probably put together a prototype demonstrating it this weekend.
You might have noticed I didn't post anything more about the Mini Ludum Dare weekend. That's because I ended up throwing the towel in. The theme was just too hard for me to make fun. It was an interesting challenge. The lesson I learned is not to take things in such a serious light. Even the most important or serious topic has a lighter side, and that is where games are meant to live.