Gaming

The most difficult part of this project thus far has been understanding the idea behind MVVM, or Model-View-View Model. Wikipedia defines it as: “MVVM facilitates a clear separation of the development of the graphical user interface (either as markup language or GUI code) from the development of the business logic or back end logic known as the model (also known as the data model to distinguish it from the view model). The view model of MVVM is a value converter, meaning that the view model is responsible for exposing the data objects from the model in such a way that those objects are easily managed and consumed” ...

Earlier today I completed the final chapter of my book The Advancaed UnealScript Programming Cookbook. The book covers a number of topics ranging from creating custom weapons, advanced AI for navigating tight paths and following pawns, drawing a HUD without the use of ScaleForm, and adjusting crosshairs based on the actor your pawn’s eyes are tracing. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. Initially I wasn’t completely confident that I could complete the book within the restrictions of such a tight deadline (less than 3 months), especially when I hadn’t used the language or Unreal Development kit in almost a year. I had previously been focusing my efforts on C#, XNA, and Unity. ...

So it’s been a long time coming, but my first Xbox Live Indie Game, *Piz-ong,*finally appeared on Xbox Live this morning. It took me a few attempts to get it through peer review, and it was always for something silly, like forgetting an “if”statement for the trial mode (which I later found out from James Silva that you don’t even need, as the game automatically prompts for the trial to tend after 7 minutes). ...

I’ve decided to finally release my game. And by release, I mean submit it to playtesting, take some brief feedback, and then finally place it into peer review. Once it passes that it can be released on XBLIG. I’m doing this for a few reasons: 1) Learning It’s nice to have feedback from other developers in terms of how the game plays and how to make corrections. It’s essentially a pong clone, so I wanted to start simple, as it serves as a way for me to learn both C# and XNA. In that regard it has done its job. I feel as though it’s run its course at the moment and that I can learn more from others developers and players than to continue on as I am. ...

Just placeholder art for now Update: I’ve found the thread where in the App Hub where I got the original idea for the powerups. It is now linked. This is part 2 of my Dream.Build.Play journal, where I outline what it’s like to learn the technical side of XNA and C#. You can find my first part here. As I mentioned in my previous posting, a few members of the XNA community have been key in helping me learn the ins and outs along the way. I was looking for a framework to build my game on top of, and in doing so I came across a few which caught my attention, but Oneksoft’s Basic Starter Kit really had a lot of features that I was looking for. He frequently updates it, which gives you an added incentive to check out the page often as well. Essentially it is a combination of items from developers within the community, all of which are designed to make the experience of a novice developer easier. ...

I want to chronicle what it’s like to learn how to program. It has always been something that has interested me, and I’m impressed by people who can program. In the game development world programmers are the ones who hold the key to success. A game may be aesthetically pleasing or engross players in a beautiful soundtrack, but those who control how the game actually feels and how it all comes together are the programmers. ...

This weekend I had the pleasure of working with a great bunch of guys to put together a fun party style game for the first “What Would Molydeux?” game jam. It was my first game jam, but a great one nonetheless. I wasn’t sure of what to expect, but in the end I things turned out great. I had a chance to meet up with some great people, collaborate on a new project, and learn quite a bit along the way. ...

A Microsoft representative informed me today that they will be hosting a brief party for all XNA / XBLIG members and fans of the community, similar to last year’s outing. It will occur on Thursday, March 8, from 5-7 pm at the Microsoft Lobby Bar. It’s on the first floor of the North Hall, so you can’t miss it when you walk into GDC. Additionally, the Dream.Build.Play booth will be there too, so it looks like we’ll be able to get our hands on some of those titles and finally speak with the developers in person. ...

You can find the first video here. How I put this together is illustrated in the second development diary as well. The noticeable changes I’ve made in this version include: A post processing volume with: Depth of Field – I have it focused on the pawn, and it gradually decreases as the distance extends radially. It’s subtle, but I didn’t want it to be distracting. It offers the sense that everything is slightly dulled with the water in your eyes. ...

Wow, I’ve been writing like a mad man on here for the past two weeks! Anyway, here’s the first video I’ve posted for my Mega Man prototype. It’s half way through Bubble Man’s stage, and begins just after you drop into the water. The physics are way off, and I haven’t altered the values for gravity or friction just yet, so that certainly could use some work. In Mega Man 2, Rock can jump 75% of the screen when beneath water, so I’ll add a physics volume just for that area. I also plan on updating the dev diary later this week too. ...