So while it’s fresh I’m writing up LD34, a successful failure. First time ever the theme’s were tied so we ending up doing both growing and two button. Which are both great themes. My idea quickly came once I dismissed anything based on plant growing for reasons I shan’t discuss here.
Quick update on some side projects I’ve been working on. Most of these except Block Project are experiments and are in various stages of complete. Though I've been happy with the amount of coding I've been doing at home in the second half of 2015.
Staring at the impossible, the empty space of potentiality you fill it up with clipped syntax and hit compile. Only to see, after several failures, the magic of dreams alive on the small screen or the tiny led bleeping.
Originally written for #AltDevBlogADay In a world of frameworks, simple to use engines and added layers of abstraction we are in danger of leaky abstraction, both in design and programming.
Going to take a break from my Useless Designer series to talk about a personal project which has me very excited. While judging Dare I came across a good idea which could be brilliant: using a mobile device as the controller in a shared space.
Let’s face it, there is nothing more annoying than being bossed about by someone who is useless. Let’s face it, there is nothing more annoying than being bossed about by someone who is useless. ? So here are three simple rules. Work with them in the trenches.
Getting it out There In my relatively short time in the industry I seem to have attracted a few fixer-uppers, reboots, ports and all round oh do you mind just finishing it off jobs. Some of the biggest of these I have been Lead Programmer or Lead Designer on.
This LudumDare I was hit by a blaze of inspiration. I was soooo excited by this project!!! Then the truck of problems ran me over, several times. Build a 3D Spatial Puzzle based on a secret phrase. The phrase is revealed when the person completes the puzzle.
When in doubt go Retro. I can point to countless notebooks some of which date back to some of my first programming experiments in my pre-teen years. One problem which I've never felt happy about are TILES .
So the big milestone for the Data Driven Dialogue project is in and frankly it needs some time to sit on the shelf while I gather my thoughts for a fresh assault. So I set about learning Unity, something I've been interested in for a long time as a prototyping tool.
Working on my Cave Generator. Task List. Trace Wall Outlines. Smooth Lines. Generate 3D Geometry
I pull in Nick Lewis and Neil Richardson to discuss balancing art and code needs. We talk about how to get the best out of both. How programmers and artists can get the most out of each other. Communication between teams, and how to manage it.
Aqua Attack Facebook Page So into the hot box I grab Tony Carter and DT to talk about our new release, AquAttack. Some topics we cover. Micro Production vs Traditional Console. Difficulty, Challenges and High scores. Finding the Fun. Digital Marketing. Quality and Innovation balance.
We are back guys, the new site is launched and the first podcast is up. I grab Tim Kelsey & Neil Richardson to discuss cross platform development. In a world with iPhones, PS3, Wii and PC how do we write code across all these systems.
Arrays are listed as { }. Groups are “- - -” boxes. So some graph confusion between arrays and groups. It’s very clear on the graph but the query starts looking strange. Really tired and not making progress. So going home, grabbing some food and hopefully I can clean up the mess in my head.
Okay above you see rough and blurred. The rough pass uses a single sample against the depth buffer. Those bloody pixels are a result of the resolution of the shadow map.
Many people will tell you this but whenever you have a problem try to visualise it. This can be applied to almost everything (except cases where visualisation is a constraint, think advanced maths and quantum). So above you see the debug frustum.
Wooot! Progress, the shadow is low quality due to PC card limits. I need to add some bias to avoid flicker, and smooth off the edges to get soft shadows.
So climbing into bed last night I got a great idea. Debug the Light ViewProjection matrix by using a camera with the same matrix. Well you know how I managed to knock together that skybox so quickly. Well I dug into it…. YIKES.
Full Screen shadows almost done. Had to run. Just caught last bus home. Some weird filming on the lot. More tomorrow.
So after a lot of thought and planning yesterday I set about implementing soft shadows using shaders tonight. Sadly this meant I needed to re-haul the entire scene manager and packer to support texture swapping, and effect management.
Well lighting & shadows are a complex bag of trickery and maths. Basic Lighting is simple. Take a book outside into the sun now rotate the bugger around and throw it.
Day & Night Cycle. Woot! Not only did I get a pretty awesome Sky-Sphere in place but I also managed to knock up a day/night cycle. I also cleaned up the shaders and have global lighting in place. Found an awesome tut, and manage to knock the shader up from that.
Ye gods captain, PROGRESS. After the dismal run around the pointlessness I have actually made some progress last night and today. Coupling Issue solved with Interface. Island has day/night cycle. Shop Blimp interior & exterior modelled. Blimp added to world.
So no progress yesterday as it took me forever to vote, and then I got lost in endless election cover and got no sleep, zombied through work today. Anyway got back and looking mostly at setting up the menu and gui system for buying and setting up stuff.
Island Scale. Staying late at work to do university work is REALLY awesome, and so works. My work setup is just so much better for coding. Pro vs Express. Two Screens desktop vs Laptop. Work vs Bedroom. Anyway, getting the island render stuff in.
Output Log. Created World[Game World] Building Basic Prop [Template] Frank.Island.WorldProp Building Basic Prop [Building Template] Frank.Island.Building Building Container Prop [Container Template] Frank.Island.Container Building Inventory Prop [Inventory Template] Frank.Island.Inventory Building...
Hitting a massive break trying to get Model-View-Controller to work with Data Driven model. I’ve found out some nice stuff about C# activator but it gets messy. Ultimately I think I’m going to have to through a few engineering scruples out the window and hack it if I want to stay on track.
AAAARGH!!!! Really slow progress, here are some of the hurdles I’ve been hitting. Baking Shadow Maps in 3D Studio Max while maintaining the UV (a bad tangent). Confusion between ActiveTransform and Transform. Renamed them to WorldTransform and RelativeTransform. Broken input needed fixing.
I really wish I had a pretty picture but I don’t. Sadly it’s a problem with grunt coding tasks is there is very little pretty to show for it. In fact most of my work today has been in the Content Pipeline which runs at build time. So its not even runtime code. XML Data.
Updated the document from my notes, and a few use cases. Clean Version Here. The main break throughs and choices are below. Prop Code. All the prop data will be created from an XML file and parsed into a dictionary which is indexed by Prop Code.
Cooking Calamity Use cases, defining more stuff. Well I suggest following the link for loads of stuff but the biggest thing is cooking. I knew some simple things were core to the game. Time Based Interactions - Farming. Activities - Fishing, Fairy, Milling. Coins & Customisation.
So after the coupling issue I’ve been looking at Object Factories and inventories. Now something I learn to love more and more is Data-Driven development. I cannot express my love for it highly enough.
Coupling and Forethought. So last night I started looking at setting up the game elements and save data. The moment I started I saw coupling issues rise up like the ugly beast. Thankfully I’ve seen this monster and I know how to deal with it. I went to bed with pen & paper.
More notes on Game-Play. So I’ve been at Uni and running around town so most of my work was in my note-book but it gave me some time to form some thoughts, and define some game-play. Also after much thought a stunning thought came to me. NO VIOLENCE!!! Player Actions. Frank Pet / Scold.
Stupid Artist!! Oh no wait… that’s me. As far back as Wednesday last week when I was working my way through this problem I joked about the artist being stupid.
Right I’ve moved over most the nice LD code into the Frank project, cleaned up a few things here and there. Made it play nice with the World Manager system. First thing I did after getting the camera controls in was apply the debug renderer to the stupid animation problem I’m having.
Aaargh Maths! After a whole load of confusion between expanded polar coordinates and spherical coordinates which took the better part of the day I’ve managed to generate the map. On the positive side the Helper classes are re-useable and I’m quite chuffed with the camera stuff.
Theme: Islands. Okay time to make a game in a weekend. At first I wasn’t going to do LD17 but then I realised I could use the engine I’m building for university work. This synergy means the times not wasted, synergy in real life. Besides it will give my lagging progress a much needed oomph.
Brick wall. Importing really simple models with a low bone count with no issue. The hand has been glitching all day. Still no closer to solver the problem. Unfortunately I’m working with Visual Express C# and my old Visual Studio Pro 2005.
The last roadblock I hit was tagging animations for export. Well after talking to the artists at work no-one knows how to do it in 3ds Max 2009 (or any version of Maya). So after some digging I found this post on the XNA forums.
Small Progress but still progress. Okay so doesn’t look very different. Multiple Animators. World & Object Management. Instanced Objects & Animations. The World & Object management took me so much longer than it should have. I had to wrap my head around methods of garbage collection that C# uses.
Today’s Goals. Build World Manager. Make base Hand & Frank. Get Hand to Pick up Frank. So currently I’m doing one of the things I like least. Building low-level systems and technical plumbing. General I like to work one of two ways.
Crunch goes the night. Or at least it has for over the last month. There have been brief respites over the last six weeks or so but mostly it's been early mornings, late nights and weekends. I've been cramming my home-time projects and other prep work in where I can.
Hi all, Claire again. I meant to do another podcast no this topic but sadly my audio setup is picking up way too much noise and I shan't have time to fix it. So I've uploaded a pdf version for perusal.
Download the test version and give it a play and let me know what you think. To play a level load run the file "swingcar.exe mytrack.trk" if you want to edit then "swingcar.exe mytrack.trk edit". Game Controls. Left and Right arrows for car. Then left click to shoot grapple.
The editor as you can see has grown. not only can the editor do much more funky stuff with polys and adjust all their varibles. Elasticity is the bottom left, static is bottom middle, and weight is right bottom. File Saving and Loading is all in.
So after a bit of pain and tears the editor has everything it needs. The rest is just trimming. You can do the following... Draw Segments (and polys). Add Points. Remove Points. Move Points. Refine Line (Add point on Line).
I've been very very busy. Having fixed this bug. Then this one. I'm now working on the editor. Once this is done I'll work on Loading and Saving then the grappling hook.
It Wooooooooorks!!!!! After a day and a half of fighting with conflicting libraries my fuzzy memory nd just plain down stupidity I have all the required drawing and physics functions operating sufficiently. So it is in a sate of bliss and happiness I retire to bed.
Yes folks 100 posts in the blog! Pity it couldn't be more significant. I know this screen doesn't look like much but well it is. The sequence of events is as follows. Get PTK and Chipmunk setup and build framework.
Wooot I have a job offer for a games industry job. Went out with my Mum for Sushi last night and we caught up on gossip. Also really ill at the moment but still plowing on with the code. Getting stuck at the moment as PTK is causing an error in Chipmunk.
Okay I think I have an idea. SWING CAR. The idea is quite simple you have a car with a grappling hook and a track you cant navigate without grappling across gaps, and swing all around.
So my work load is nicley split at the moment between three projects. Gamecube Project : Basically we need to make a game for the gamecube that demonstrates its functionality and shows we know how to use it. Still developing the engine at the moment no game stuff started.
Hi everyone. I presented a lecture to the first years on PTK my favourite lightweight 2D engine. Full details can be found in Code - Reference section along with downloads. I'll be posting the podcast to go with the slides on Friday night hopefully.
The weekend is done and the coffee is finished. Download Entries. Please leave and Read the feedback. I'm sure all the entrants will appreciate it. Comments
So get ready for a great weekend of code. The code weekend page will be uploaded at 1800 on Friday. So we don't expect a huge weekend but we are all ready go go. A huge thanks to all the people that are helping set it up. Huge thanks to Mark Sample, Lead Designer at Eutechnyx.
The Handins are well in. Thanks to everyone who entered. I cannot say how great it is you took the time to code together a game in no time at all. Your efforts rock as do you all. Claire. The voting begins tomorrow. Download entries here.
The theme is announced as Magnets / Gravity. For more details please click here .
Added Menu System. Added Time line. Time line Processing. Add movement Markers. Revamped Mouse Map and Sprites to avoid rebuilding map. Report Back. So its moving along slowly with the very small hours I can put in. Hopefully more hours soon.
Okay we have a plan no really we do. The following maths assignment needs to be done. The aim of the assignment is to carry out an analysis of the motion of two cars moving downhill and develop a programme code and animation illustrating the motion of the cars possibilities for collisions.
So the finest quality of a programmer is the ability to experience apathy. No really this is true, a lot of people call themselves programmers when they are really just capable of hacking out a few lines of code.
16 hours, 15 minutes, and 45 seconds For me however there is no time remaining. As I need to go to sleep and then get to work. I achieved everything I aimed for. Flags, holes, even got the isometric working. Admittedly its still rough around the edges. I am however rather proud of my creation.
THERE ARE 1 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, and 59 seconds left! Considering I'll be at work for 6 of those hours, call it 6 hours sleep..... hmm that leave me with 12 HOURS!!!
There are only 1 days, 18 hours, 10 minutes, and 40 seconds remaining. I am the Queen of all I CODE! Okay I've thrown the old FLAT render back in cause its relible and its a safe fall back all the time. However I've cleaned up the ISO mode as well, its not perfect.
1 days, 21 hours, 6 minutes, and 47 seconds So it took me all of 1 hour or so to add, a map editor with loading and saving. Not to mention collision detection and smooth out the kinks in the gravity equation. Oh and did I mention visualize the field. Then someone says, make it isometric.
There are only 2 days, 6 hours, 15 minutes, and 47 seconds remaining. Just woke up. The prototype is working nice and fine. It wasn't a dream from the early ours of the morning :) Next Goal is to add collisions!
There are only 2 days, 15 hours, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds remaining. Okay well the Theme is MAGNETS ! Which I'm really happy for. I teamed up with Edge he is going to be my artist. I got the theme ran off to Kendo and got back, so I missed the first 5 hours or so of the comp.
Timer Needs fixing. Okay so I knuckled down and played the demo a bunch of times. Focusing once again on the combat. I kept forcing myself to envision this or that but in the end it just didn't feel "fun". The Instant Manipulation thing makes sense but feels light and tacky. The game needed weight.
Approx 3 hours. Still need to fix my VB timer. More importantly I need to Kill Phil, and no I dont have time to go learn the five point palm trick. The huggable bastard gave me a dvd of fun stuff which I blew away my sunday watching. Meanwhile struggling with vertex normals.
Slow day, progress is like wading through Jello. Anyway what I have achieved. Oh my VB Timer got broken, hence approx time. Whats been Done. Mouse Picking. Type Generation. Correct Branching. Light Class. Implemented 3ds loader. Place holder 3ds files. Broken : Vertex Normals. Todo.
Good days and bad days. I got back on Saturday night and started coding, however my brain was slush and my fingers slow. I managed to code the transversal but then I realized I needed to code a new camera class based on Quaterions. So once again me and arch-nemesis engaged in a battle of brains.
Timer: 04:21:05. So Another frightful morning has dawned. Okay well as you can see the Matrix mode of the game is coming along. I spent a lot of time on basic structure stuff with trees and such.
Timer: 02:48:23. Oh well sleep is optional according to my body at the moment. So let me move into the next phase. I have a scattering of papers around me on the floor, two notepads filled with doodles on nebulas, star systems, helixs, maths, long sequences of numbers and general confusion.
Timer: 03:25:18. Yes it is compleeeeeeeted! Okay its not completed what has been done is I have succesfully completed the combat class and one ice class.
TWEEK Version. Last night spent a few minutes changing controls and adding a speed setting because some people were confused by the control system. Apparently my reflex's are Ninja-like, bleh. I think the learning curve was just a bit steep so I slowed the curve.
You never collapse the day after a true crunch, a feeble attempt you crash the day after but a proper grin you run on adrenaline and string for a while longer then after you get a proper sleep, zombie.
Notice there wil be a later polished version by the weekend. Oh well midnight rolled around. It was 4 hours from the deadline but it was the deadline I set myself so I could get to work on time.
31 Hours. It seems rest has helped. A lot of time on sprites and a determination of a blind dominatrix in latex. I will complete this game and it will be fun. Everything else can go to hell but I need to make it FUN! Progress. Completed some more artwork: Front, Worm Animation, Explosions.
http://ludumdare.com/files/164_28Hour.rar. With under twenty hours left on the clock I need to start rushing. To took 5 hours out, 4 for sleep and 1 for bath and to just freshen up. I need to be out of the door and into work 3/4 hours after deadline ends.
Insanity is not merely a state of mind is a state of the Cthulian Empire. To answer your questions the code has once more blurred into nothingness. I'm going to have something to eat and sit down. In this peroid of 19 hours I've had 1h52m break accordning to my coding clock.
Basic collision detection setup. Still a bit to buggy. Might need to put some kind of turning curve on the worms. Also looking at stopping them flocking but move in the same direction slightly. Going to centre them on hives. Also will make a scrolling map to increase play space.
Okay I've been up since early this morning coding Dune Worms. The attack is taking FOREVER to code. I've been hitting lots of glitches and stupid mistakes on my part. Currently I'm using placeholder sprites that are not my own and I will replace. I just needed them to test animation.
Okay I didn't update yesterday. Bad Claire, no chocolate, none not a piece. Okay back in the world of the sane I have recently raised the Cthulu alert to orange today.
Magical C++, oh the insanity I have signed up for a weekend of code. Ludum Dare 48 Hour comp . Basically you get given a brief and you have 48 hours to make a game that works. Basically you deprive yourself of sleep sanity and all sense in order to complete a block of code.
Timer: 01:16:08. Okay not much coding time, HOWEVER bare in mind that timer does not include all the time spent with a piece of paper and pen, along with dusty linear algebra memories. All the time chatting with Rheno and all the time running around the flat screaming.
Timer: 02:54:03. I've been coding collision and matrix math. I'm pulling my hair out and DESPERATELY trying not to be tempted into signing up for WOW again. I'm horrible. Self Control. Its horrible I know I wanted to talk about self control. I REALLY want to play WOW.
Timer: 02:12:50. I haven't been coding as much as I would like but I've got a bit done. I've also submitted a request to be moved to the early shift so I can get more coding done. Here is what's been added. Base ICE class. Zombie Ice : A dead ice that just gets shot at.
No this is not a second code post. The code is going slow. I wanted to talk about ICE. Intruder Counter-Measure Electronics. The term was first popularized by William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer in the 80s. Its a nifty catch call term for specially designed systems to counter intrusive users.
Timer: 03:34:21. Okay well my current coding project is named Phantom for the moment. I wont go into detail at this time about the project. I wanted to talk about a timer I've started using.