Category: Game Programming

Various Stuffing

November 30, 2011
Game Programming
1 Comment

Happy Holidays, for one thing! I hope your Thanksgiving was well and your Christmas will be merry.

I’m still chasing several different rabbits and I can’t seem to help myself.

First, I want to improve Inaria significantly and re-release it – and possibly release it for Android devices as well.

Second, I’m still learning Untity and JavaScript in an effort to get ready for DA FEWCHA!

Third, and last, the game that consistently generates the most Google searches on this site is Planitia. People want to know where they can download it, how much it costs and if there’s a demo. At some point the answers to these questions should become “here”, “around $5” and “yes”.

Okay, Break’s Over.

September 6, 2011
40-Hour GamesGame Programming
5 Comments

I’m going to try something kind of crazy tonight.

The ClanDestiny prototype needs to get done, first so it can be done, but also so I can move on to the Star Kittens prototype and get some feedback on which I should flesh out first.

So I’m going to try some livecoding. I’ve created an account on JustinTV and will be streaming my coding session tonight, live. Once I’m done, I’ll encode the thing and upload it to YouTube, but if you want to chat with me while I’m working and make suggestions you’ll need to visit my brand-spankin’-new JustinTV channel.

I should start livecoding around 8 PM EST.

Update: Um…between technical issues and family responsibilities, this didn’t happen. I’ll try again Wednesday night.

The Return of the 40-Hour Game

June 14, 2011
40-Hour GamesClanDestinyGame ProgrammingStar Kittens
0 Comment

So. Got two games. Which should I make? The answer, of course, is both, but the order and priority I give both games is important.

What both Star Kittens and ClanDestiny need are prototypes.

Well. I can make prototypes 🙂

So all hail the return of the 40-hour game! I’ll be writing a version of both Star Kittens and ClanDestiny and going from there based on your feedback from them. I won’t release the prototypes until they are both finished, so you can try them both out at once. And I’ll only have 40 hours to spend on each prototype.

Again, the standard rules apply:

1. Only actual coding/art/sound time counts. I can think about stuff as long as I want.

2. The forty-hour deadline is hard and fast. Once the clock runs out, pencils down and publish.

3. I can use anything I’ve already coded for free.

4. I must blog the entire process as much as possible; the constant feedback is a really good motivator.

I believe I’ll actually do ClanDestiny first, as I think I’ve got its design more fully-formed in my head than Star Kittens.

Another Great Development Vid

February 22, 2011
Cool PeopleGame DesignGame Programming
1 Comment

Again, these things simultaneously delight and depress me.

This is three guys from Cryptic Studios (two programmers and one artist) making a game in about 28 total hours (not counting sleep time) for the 2011 Global Game Jam (which I guess is as close to my Iron Gamedev dream as I’m going to get).

Now, it’s really unfair to compare myself to these guys. They were using a very well-designed framework (Game Library of Victory, which you can actually download here). There were three of them and one of me.

But still…look at them pump that stuff out! I’m starting to feel like I’m doing something wrong. It seems like it’s so much harder for me and takes so much longer than it does for many other people. Maybe my framework just sucks.

Down the garden path…

December 21, 2010
Game Programming
7 Comments

Okay, so I’ve been playing some of the LD 19 entries. I think the best one I’ve played so far is Time Pygmy, a game where a pygmy from the neolithic era finds a time portal to 1989 and makes discoveries about the future.

It’s written in Flash.

Plus, Mike Hommel of Hamumu Software has seen his business grow this last year by making flash games and licensing them.

One of my goals for this coming year is to write more games…and writing them in Flash would help with that.

So expect me to start talking about FlashDevelop and Flixel soon.

Holy Crap, Ludum Dare!

December 16, 2010
Game ProgrammingLudum Dare
0 Comment

Holy crap, Ludum Dare! 19! Is! This! Weekend! And I said I’d compete! Am! I! Crazy?!

Yes, I guess I am. Theme voting is going on right now (my personal hope is that MAD SCIENCE! wins). I’ve got my framework ready for just about any game idea I might come up with.

So expect a lot of posting over the weekend! As usual, you can keep track of the compo by visiting the official blog and you can get more regular updates by visiting #ludumdare on irc.afternet.org.

So guess what I did last night?

December 1, 2010
Game Programming
5 Comments

I finished converting the majority of my game framework from DirectX/FMOD to OpenGL/SDL.

It’s a sickness, I swear. I’m a complete junkie.

Okay, Here We Go!

October 22, 2010
Game ProgrammingGamesInaria
1 Comment

I had a responsibility that I had to discharge before I could have the time necessary to start on my “Make A Game and Sell One Copy by the End of October” thingy. (Needless to say I’ve already lost the competition; those Ludum Dare guys are ruthless!)

So the game is going to be Inaria. I’ve got the improved version I was making for the iPhone; since I don’t have the hardware necessary to finish that version it’s going to come back to the PC and be my first…commmercial…game! DUNH-DUNH-DUUUNH!

So, I’ve got nine days to finish Inaria and get it up and running. Dreamhost has a free “e-business” web package that I will probably use at first until I inevitably discover that it doesn’t fit my needs and I have to try something else.

Get ready to journey through a new Inaria!

A New Inaria

September 27, 2010
Game ProgrammingInaria
1 Comment

Behold!

Inaria! Compiled with NetBeans and Cygwin!

“But Viridian!” I hear you exclaim. (My god, you exclaim loud. Keep it down, will ya?) “This is just the same Inaria that you’ve been peddling for years now!”

Ah, but it is not. For this version of Inaria was compiled using the NetBeans IDE and the Cygwin compiler platform. And since the source does not call any Windows libraries, that means I could very easily make a Linux version.

If Linux didn’t hate me.

So why’d I do this? Well, I had an interview recently, and the company is using NetBeans as their IDE so I figured I’d get familiar with it. It’s actually quite good – similar enough to Visual Studio that I could figure things out quick. And it’s got one nice feature – hold CTRL and mouse over an include directive and it’ll tell you the path of the file you’re including (or tell you that it cannot find it). Nice.

More good stuff tomorrow, including a CHALLENGE! (For me, not for you. Sorry.)

The Strategy

September 21, 2010
Game ProgrammingGames
10 Comments

I know this is belated, but thank you guys so much for your kind words and support. You’ve really made this easier.

First, I’d like to talk about Derek Yu. Derek’s a cool and froody dude in the world of independent game development, having designed and done artwork for both Aquaria and Spelunky (which will soon get an Xbox Live incarnation).

Well, Derek’s written a rather excellent article about how to finish making a game.

His advice is excellent.

Here’s why I’m not going to take (most) of it.

It’s because I have…a strategy.

THE STRATEGY (TM) (R) (C) (PG-13) is to finally, finally, finally listen to that voice that’s been telling me “go indie!” for years.

Now, this doesn’t mean I’m not looking for a full-time job. I certainly am, and once I find one I will devote all my working energy to doing it as well as I possibly can.

But if you’ll recall, I originally purchased this web space to sell the awesome games I was going to create in my spare time…back in the year 2000.

This web space will finally be put to its original purpose. Now, don’t worry, I’m not going to finish Planitia and charge for it. I said it’d be free, and it will be. But I’m also going to be working on a new game.

And in complete contrariness to Derek’s advice, I’ll be using my own engine (unless one of you knows of a 2D/3D codebase that is absolutely free and cross-compatible between PC, Mac and iPhone/iPad). I won’t be completely rewriting the engine, but these changes will take a good bit of time. (And again, if anyone out there knows a good “convert your Direct3D renderer to OpenGL” tutorial, I’d be grateful.)

I’ll also be scaling up rather than down.

But I don’t want to reveal what my first commercial project is going to be just yet 🙂 Hopefully I’ll have some screenshots for you very soon!

Welcome to Viridian Games.

The games are about to begin.