Been pushing hard this week to get some code back to our Surface client at MS. The current project involves prototyping some new controls. Or, rather, Surface versions of old controls. A button that’s intended to be hit with a mouse is easy, but in a multitouch, multiuser world, it gets a little more complicated. The Surface SDK already has controls like buttons and things sorted out, but we’re working on some things that are a bit more out there.

Rather than prototyping in Flash or something, we’re doing real WPF apps using the real Surface SDK, and it’s great to work with, but pretty hard at the same time. WPF will let you do anything you want, but as with any sort of UI tech, normal forms-based apps are a lot easier to make than ones that feel physical and natural. I scrapped this prototype twice before settling on something I was actually happy with.

That’s been my deal this week. I did get in a little time on the Box2D/Silverlight port and it’s going ok. I’m getting increasingly annoyed at the lack of GetFlattenedPathGeometry() in Silverlight, though. I think I should have more time over the next couple weeks to put in, and should have something up on Codeplex soon.