Here's a new piece I wrote just for fun. I recorded live cello for this one and am very happy with the cello sound. But, speaking honestly, I'm less happy with the piano sound. Thankfully, it's recorded via MIDI so I can swap that out for a better sounding library. Or maybe I just need to tweak the track settings. Either way, I'd appreciate both listens and feedback!
Thanks
Nate
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The View Upon the Horizon
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Medieval RPG Project Needs YOU!
Hey there!
My name is Thomas, and I'm assembling a team of people to begin working on an RPG within Unity Engine. So far, the team consists of two Directors and a Programmer.
The game is meant to be realistic and feature a world that is believable and could've happened. The game will feature a rich, detailed story, believable characters, and a unique lore.
Once the game is finished, it will be sold on the Steam Marketplace and any revenue will be shared with all who assist in the development of the game.
Currently, we are looking for anyone to join, whether you be an aspiring writer, a seasoned programmer, or a talented artist.
If you feel like helping out and being a part of something that could be big, or even asking some general questions, shoot me an email at: thomasmunson2277@gmail.com
Note: The game will be written entirely in C#.
My email: thomasmunson2277@gmail.com
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3.0 Playing videos on android
I just found a code which uses libavcodec to decode videos and display them on screen
Canvas canvas = surfaceHolder.lockCanvas();
canvas.drawBitmap(mBitmap, mDrawLeft, mDrawTop,
prFramePaint);
surfaceHolder.unlockCanvasAndPost(canvas);
anyway it looks like a ton of useless garbage, it first decodes then draws a bitmap, i would like to somehow transfer video data to gpu directly so i can just draw a video frame in a simple poly (made of 4 verts), however it may be undoable, anyone has any more information about it?
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Medieval RPG Project Needs YOU!
Hey there!
My name is Thomas, and I'm assembling a team of people to begin working on an RPG within Unity Engine. So far, the team consists of two Directors and a Programmer.
The game is meant to be realistic and feature a world that is believable and could've happened. The game will feature a rich, detailed story, believable characters, and a unique lore.
Once the game is finished, it will be sold on the Steam Marketplace and any revenue will be shared with all who assist in the development of the game.
Currently, we are looking for anyone to join, whether you be an aspiring writer, a seasoned programmer, or a talented artist.
If you feel like helping out and being a part of something that could be big, or even asking some general questions, shoot me an email at: thomasmunson2277@gmail.com
Note: The game will be written entirely in C#.
My email: thomasmunson2277@gmail.com
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Medieval RPG Project Needs YOU!
Hey there!
My name is Thomas, and I'm assembling a team of people to begin working on an RPG within Unity Engine. So far, the team consists of two Directors and a Programmer.
The game is meant to be realistic and feature a world that is believable and could've happened. The game will feature a rich, detailed story, believable characters, and a unique lore.
Once the game is finished, it will be sold on the Steam Marketplace and any revenue will be shared with all who assist in the development of the game.
Currently, we are looking for anyone to join, whether you be an aspiring writer, a seasoned programmer, or a talented artist.
If you feel like helping out and being a part of something that could be big, or even asking some general questions, shoot me an email at: thomasmunson2277@gmail.com
Note: The game will be written entirely in C#.
My email: thomasmunson2277@gmail.com
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Need testers for retro FPS game
I have a prototype of FPS game. It is a classic first person shooter and I want a testers.
Now it has 3 challenging maps and it looks like Quake1 - Quake2. In next months I am going to upgrade in on Quake3 - Ut2004, add new enemies, prettier maps - a lot of stuff, but now I am glad I got the engine working somehow fast. Here are some screenshots:
Contact me if interested on: martin.musalek@centrum.cz or forum PMs
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VPN
I was having trouble with this site and my VPN service before but its fixed now. Before it wouldn't load more than one message unless I had an ad blocker on. The only way to have ad blocker off and have it load more than the topmost message from the sub forums was if I turned my VPN off. This doesn't happen anymore and my VPN is working fine with the site now so whatever you did to fix it thank you.
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Finding the right crew to hire
Hello everyone.
So after many years with multiple ideas i am ready to reach out and make dreams come true.
To start with, i don't know if i want to start off with Android or Ios game - but it really doesnt matter at this point.
Let us say that this thread is about Ios.
The game it self is a open-world-mmo with RPG elements.
There are designs ready to get inspiration from (even if those have to be "re-designed" do to copyright issues) - the idea behind creating this game as mobile app, is to bring life back to the "long forgotten" games, which i am sure that many of you once played.
Please help me - people of which background, experience, and knowledge am i going to hire?
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SDL returning a surface, how to handle exceptions
SDL_Surface* myFunction() {
/* code for creating the surface...
*********
*/
int tryOnce = 0;
if(tempSurface != nullptr) {
// all is good
return tempSurface;
} else if(tryOnce < 1) {
++tryOnce;
myFunction();
} else {
SDL_Log("log error");
throw "caught error... exiting";
}
Hello,
I wrote a simple program.
It returns surfaces in several functions , but I want to check to see the surface is not a nullptr before returning it and if it is ,
call the same function once more to try to load the image to the surface or whatever, and if that fails to throw an exception which
will exit the game.
Is this a bad way to do it , it seems to excessive to end the game but I'm a beginner and really don't want to get too deep into everything yet.
?
thanks
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First Game Published
Just published my first game on the Google Play App Store!!!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=djs.game.ball
It's block smashing time....with a ball....Ball Smash Block!!!This isn't your average paddle and bouncing ball block destroyer.There is no paddle with slow bouncing balls here!!!Take aim with the launcher and destroy the blocks on the screen before they reach the bottom and end your game.After each turn, all the blocks advance one row and new blocks arrive from the top.Completed turns grant a greater number of balls to launch on the next turn.Get into the hundreds of balls on screen at once destroying the blocks with special effects.Features:- Casual gameplay with quick mechanics for fast play- Multiple block types with special abilities- Upgrade your abilities to devastating effect - Earn coins through playing for purchasing upgrades- Three different play speeds available- No internet connection required (only for Leaderboards and IAP)- Google Play Leaderboards
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Building Block Heroes - Inspirations
Building Block Heroes - Inspirations
I've gotten a lot of positive comments over the past couple of weeks regarding the novelty of my idea. As much as I'd like to claim credit for coming up with the idea for Building Block Heroes, most games are built on the shoulders of giants and my game is no exception. This week, I give credit where credit is due and explain how I came up with the idea for Building Block Heroes.
(Disclaimer: I own none of the non-Building Block Heroes related screenshots, and am not trying to claim credit for any of them.)
Hello Kitty Cube Frenzy
The primary inspiration for Building Block Heroes is a game many of you might have played whether you're willing to admit it or not. Hello Kitty Cube Frenzy is essentially a bare-bones version of Building Block Heroes - a game in which you use falling blocks to build platforms in order to collect things. Since the moment I played it as a child, I have always been intrigued by the concept and have always wondered why it was never utilized elsewhere.
As detailed in my previous article, I was looking for an idea that would be relatively simple to create, and my first thought was to re-create Hello Kitty Cube Frenzy. Puzzle games and platformers are generally the genres that appear in game development tutorials anyways, so making a combination of the two was a natural project to work on when attempting to learn how to develop games that are more than GUI applications. In addition, the lack of similar games meant that my game could end up filling a niche of sorts, which might help it stand out a bit.
The main fundamental difference between Hello Kitty Cube Frenzy and Building Block Heroes is the presence of lives in the former game. I'm not a huge fan in general of having lives in games, and Building Block Heroes contains many more ways to "die" or otherwise have your progress through a level set back, so I chose to omit lives in favour of a less artificial method of difficulty.
Hello Kitty Cube Frenzy also contains time limits in each level. I decided to omit them by default in Building Block Heroes due to the greater number of gameplay variables in my game (which will be detailed later on as a describe each area in the game in detail). I like the idea of time limits myself, but not everyone does, so I plan on making time limits optional in Building Block Heroes.
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo
I knew going into the game that I wanted to increase the pace of Hello Kitty Cube Frenzy. For this purpose, I referred to another game I played extensively in my youth, possible the fastest and most visceral puzzle game I've ever played - Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo.
One of the things that made Super Puzzle Fighter so interesting to me was the way in which players would build up enormous combos and chunks of like-coloured blocks before shattering them all with a Crash Gem. I wanted to recreate this feeling with Building Block Heroes, and since I was dealing with falling coloured blocks anyways, it was a natural decision to use Crash Gems (Breaker Blocks in my case) to destroy existing blocks.
The difference between using Breaker Blocks instead of a certain number of blocks as the trigger for destroying blocks is that the player can afford to be a bit more careless when planning moves. With Breaker Blocks, there is less likelihood for chain reactions as remaining blocks fall into place after destroying other blocks, which in turn reduces the amount of planning needed for every single move.
The tradeoff, of course, is that being careless and creating huge chunks of single colours can backfire if the chunk needs to be destroyed for some reason later on - doing so can remove much more from the level than is necessary. I'm essentially trading strategy for a faster paced game (although I will likely have the other method of destroying blocks as a separate game mode for those that prefer it).
Gauntlet (or any game with complementary teammates)
Multiplayer games in which each playable character possesses a different ability have always intrigued me for some reason. Something about complementing each other, or having to make compromises when less than a full team is present in the game is interesting to me because it adds a level of strategy and teamwork to the game that depends entirely on player preference.
I chose Gauntlet for this example because it was the game I thought of when I chose to include different playable characters, and it happens to use the same four colours as Building Block Heroes as an overarching colour motif. Realistically, there are many games with different playable characters as a gameplay element, and they all probably had a cumulative effect on my desire to include a similar element in my game.
Having four different colours of blocks lends itself naturally to having four characters based on those colours, which is why Building Block Heroes contains four playable characters.
Megaman and Super Mario Bros.
Like most gamers (but strangely not all), I like games with creative boss battles. The boss battles in Megaman have always drawn my attention because each boss always has a set of attacks that are consistent with whatever theme the boss represents. They therefore not only require different strategies in order to combat them, but also help add a certain uniqueness to each of their own levels.
I knew going into the game that I wanted similar boss battles, battles that would help flesh out the areas in my own game and add character to each of them. How to implement them in a puzzle game without lives or energy bars, however, was easier said than done. In the end, I chose to borrow from Super Mario Bros. and have the players rush toward a goal rather than engage the boss directly.
In Building Block Heroes, the players simply build their way to the glowing weak point (the appearance of which was inspired by the weak points in Valkyria Chronicles), which destroys the boss upon contact. Meanwhile, the boss attempts to stop the player using different types of attacks. These attacks do not harm the players directly, but destroy some of their blocks, which can hinder the players.
The manner in which they destroy the blocks is consistent with their appearance and, in most cases, the overall theme of the area they appear in. Their attacks will be described in detail once I describe the areas themselves in detail, but the bosses were by far the most entertaining part of Building Block Heroes to develop!
Long story short, Building Block Heroes is the sum of games that have interested me. For those of you struggling to come up with a gameplay idea, I would suggest a similar path - think of a game with a fun mechanic that interested you, think of what might have been missing from it, and add it in!
I hope this was an interesting read!
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WinDbg Trivia Time!
I had a trivia question that has proven extremely difficult to answer via Google, so I figured I'd hive-mind it.
In WinDbg, when looking at a call stack, what is the significance of the tag <PERF> after a function's name? I assume it means something, but I'm at a total loss as to what.
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New Indie Sports Game Released
Hello all,
I am pleased to announce that a game I've been working on for months is finally up and running on Kongregate. It's a 2D golfing game which was inspired by the Super Stickman golfing game on mobile. There are six courses in total and the game can be some-what challenging. Please at least try out the first course and if you can leave some feedback as well. Game development is my hobby and it would be much appreciated if you gave my game a try.
The game is called Simple Golf and it can be found here:
http://www.kongregate.com/games/TheDoverGames/simple-golf-2
Thanks,
REDl3east
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Designing world maps
Take a moment and think of games like Legend of Zelda or a good metroidvania. Games where the player is given a single connected world to explore.
I love those kinds of games, and I love to explore large maps like that, and unlock new areas to explore more.
But as I've been thinking about trying to design such a map myself, it quickly dawns on me that such designs are deceptively complicated, and I bet they could be a massive downfall to developers who jump in with such a goal but without some proper preparation.
The big issue (as far as I can see) is when the map needs to be changed. This is basically guaranteed in development at some point or another to some degree or another, especially if the dev team is trying something they haven't done before. Lots of things can bring about changes in a game's design, and changes in a game's design bring about changes in the level design, which in this case is the world map.
In games with world maps like Elder Scrolls, where there is vast amounts of terrain and the player has virtually unlimited freedom, this is less of an issue. Maps like that have a lot of "empty space" with little distinct content, because part of the experience is travelling through such "untamed wilderness" without borders, barriers, and ultimately little designed content. In such a design, if key spots with distinct content need to changed, there is plenty of breathing room for such changes to be made.
Games that have a linear design, even if they are still connected as one world, (such as the first three Metal Gear Solid games,) also have breathing room where one area could be expanded or re-directed if needed, and have little consequence on the other areas of the game.
But in a game with a world design like Legend of Zelda, this is not the case. If a portion of the map is designated to be, say, a swamp, and then after developing the swamp a bit it is decided that the swamp needs to be bigger, well, making the swamp bigger is going to take away from the land nearby, which may cause that adjacent area to be redesigned, and this ultimately can cascade across the whole world map.
Or in a Metroidvania, there may seem to be room to expand or contact an area as there is likely "unused space" on the map, but resizing an area still has the same cascade effect because of pieces that don't fit together anymore, and there still needs to be areas that contract or expand to properly connect to each other.
These types of games rely on there constantly being content in each area. Long empty corridors and bland fields kill the appeal of such games. Each room, each screen, needs to have some sort of content that to some extent makes the player feel rewarded for reaching or passing through that area.
It's an issue that requires careful planning.
But let's be honest, "careful planning" is something of a buzzword. It really doesn't mean anything without some real meat behind it. There are a lot of things that need to be planned. Some specific guidelines, details, and points to remember can go a long way to make sure that the "careful planning" is going to succeed.
I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience or thoughts on how someone ought to go about designing maps for a whole explorable world in their game. Or has anyone put together an article on the subject? (I'd be interested in writing such an article myself once I have some more personal experience under my belt.)
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What engines do you use, and why
Hello all,
I know this is vague and could go everywhere, but this would definitely be useful for me.
I would like to know what engines are you using to develop your games. If you use your own home-made engine, if you don't really have an engine, or if you use a middleware that you pay/rent or use for free (and then which one). I want to focus on so-called engines. So libraries or frameworks (like bgfx) are out of interest for this topic.
This question does not aim AAA in-development games since I suppose such development will use whether their own stuff, Frostbite or engines like UE4, CryEngine or Unity... And anyway, this is far beyond to me...
I would appreciate if you give some details about why you use (or not) such a middleware. It might be due to the platform you target, the price, the license, the language, that it is widely available, that it allows to work in distance (if the team is spread not in a single location), or if the engine has some specifics features others might not provide, or because the engine provides some easy means (ie blueprint for UE4, or an intuitive GUI...) or anything else (beautiful graphics, website looked friendly, good documentation...).
Also, as important, I would like to know if you're happy with your choice
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: take it more like a market survey. If you use UE4 or Unity, this is fine. This survey aims mostly to non-AAA game development (which AAA is another universe for me).
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Why my model can not show in 3D effects by OpenGL？
I want to use OpenGL to show a STL model . But why the picture look like in 2D ?
Public Sub CreateGLPannel(Pannel As PictureBox)
Dim PixelFormat As GLuint
Dim pfd As PIXELFORMATDESCRIPTOR
With pfd
.cColorBits = Bits
.cDepthBits = 16
.dwFlags = PFD_DRAW_TO_WINDOW Or PFD_SUPPORT_OPENGL Or PFD_DOUBLEBUFFER
.iLayerType = PFD_MAIN_PLANE
.iPixelType = PFD_TYPE_RGBA
.nSize = Len(pfd)
.nVersion = 1
End With
PixelFormat = ChoosePixelFormat(Pannel.hdc, pfd)
SetPixelFormat Pannel.hdc, PixelFormat, pfd
hrc = wglCreateContext(Pannel.hdc)
wglMakeCurrent Pannel.hdc, hrc
InitGL
ResizeGLScene Pannel, 4000, 4000, 4000
End Sub
Private Sub InitGL()
glShadeModel smSmooth
glClearColor 0, 0, 0, 0
glClearDepth 1
glEnable glcDepthTest
glDepthFunc cfLEqual
glHint htPerspectiveCorrectionHint, hmNicest
Lighting
End Sub
Private Sub Lighting()
Dim Specular(0 To 3) As GLfloat
Specular(0) = 0.5: Specular(1) = 1.5: Specular(2) = 2.5: Specular(3) = 3.5
glMaterialf faceFrontAndBack, Shininess, 0.5
glMaterialf faceFrontAndBack, mprSpecular, Specular(0)
glMaterialf faceFrontAndBack, AmbientAndDiffuse, 0
glEnable glcColorMaterial
glLightf ltLight0, lpmPosition, -100
glEnable glcLighting
glEnable glcLight0
End Sub
Public Sub DrawPart()
glMatrixMode mmModelView
glLoadIdentity
Select Case isfrontview
Case True
gluLookAt 0, 0, 0, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, 0
Case False
gluLookAt 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0
End Select
Select Case zoomcounter
Case 1.5
glScalef 1.5, 1.5, 1.5
Case 2
glScalef 2, 2, 2
Case 2.5
glScalef 2.5, 2.5, 2.5
Case 3
glScalef 3, 3, 3
End Select
glTranslatef gpQuadX, 1000, -800
glRotatef grQuadX, 1, 0, 0
glRotatef grQuadY, 0, 1, 0
glRotatef grQuadZ, 0, 0, 1
DrawPartList
End Sub
Private Sub DrawPartList()
Dim i As Integer
Dim Temp As Integer
Dim TrangleCounter As Integer
TrangleCounter = CInt((PartVertexCounter - 1) / 3)
glColor3f PartColor.R, PartColor.G, PartColor.B
glBegin bmTriangles
For i = 1 To TrangleCounter
Temp = (i - 1) * 3 + 1
glVertex3f Abs_PartVertex(Temp).x, Abs_PartVertex(Temp).y, Abs_PartVertex(Temp).z
glVertex3f Abs_PartVertex(Temp + 1).x, Abs_PartVertex(Temp + 1).y, Abs_PartVertex(Temp + 1).z
glVertex3f Abs_PartVertex(Temp + 2).x, Abs_PartVertex(Temp + 2).y, Abs_PartVertex(Temp + 2).z
Next i
glEnd
End Sub
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A quick question about business manager
Hi friends,
Being working for some time in the game industry (we are a game development team) we have figured out that we need help of some person like a Business manager. The person who will help us to find new clients so it will let us to concentrate on the development process rather that on researching.
Share your experience please, where is it better to find such person and what is a proper way to build a relationship with him?
Any advises will be helpful.
Thank you in advance!
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Stop hacking
Is there a program to ensure that the game I've created does not get hacked from third party apps such as lucky patcher, game guardian, game killer etc. If so, how I do I prevent this obstacle from ruining the game. The game is online based but I just recently found out there are hackers. Is there a program I could use to stop this or is it in the coding.
Thankyou
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Mobile Game Reviews: Let's Talk PigBang
In this daily blog (and video)-series I take a first impressions look at the best mobile games that I come by. Be sure to share your favorite mobile game with the rest of us in the comments below!
Online Arena Shooter PigBang is a fun "Unreleased" MOBA meets Shooter meets TD (talk about a mixed bag).
Controls are mobile optimized (auto aiming), the match-making is quick and allows you to team up with friends,, but moving through the menus is a bit clunky. You can craft weapons (based on rng), choose from a multitude of interesting skills to take into battle, and deploy AI-controlled helpers or even towers while playing.
Monetization is through incentivized ads and in-app purchases (up to $100), which allow you to open chests faster (Clash Royale style), or even buy melee weapons.
My thoughts on PigBang:
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pigbang.flex.su&hl=en iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/ru/app/pigbang-ru/id1145715340?l=en&mt=8
Subscribe on YouTube for more commentaries: https://goo.gl/xKhGjh Or join me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mobilegamefan/ Or Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nimblethoryt/ Or Twitter: https://twitter.com/nimblethor
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Dream Build Play Returns
It’s official, the world has ended as Microsoft has resurrected the hugely successful Dream Build Play challenge for 2017. The biggest difference in this resurgence is that you can now use any tool, framework or language you wish, so long as it targets Windows 10 UWP!
You can learn more about the competition at https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/projects/campaigns/dream-build-play-challenge.
The competition is broken up in to 4 main categories with various Prize levels for each, totaling a MASSIVE $200,000 prize fund for entrants to win!
The competition is open to all (worldwide) with only a few of the usual exceptions:
If you are a legal resident in your place of residence and 18 years of age or older as of June 27, 2017. If you are 18 years of age or older but are considered a minor in your place of residence, you must have your parent’s or legal guardian’s permission to enter; and
You have the technical programming education, experience and/or knowledge to create games for UWP; and
You are NOT a resident of any of the following countries: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria; and
PLEASE NOTE: U.S. export regulations prohibit the export of goods and services to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Therefore, residents of these countries / regions are not eligible to participate.
You are NOT an employee of Microsoft Corporation or an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary; and
You are NOT an employee of any company or organization that is involved in the provision of prizes, equipment or materials for this Challenge; and
You are NOT involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Challenge; and
You are NOT an immediate family (parent, sibling, spouse, child) or household member of a Microsoft employee, an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary, or a person involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Challenge.
You also can’t (of note) submit a game that is being built by a major publishing house or one that is currently in development for console development programs such as ID@Xbox, PS Dev, etc. It has to be your own work and not linked to your development studio or company. If it wasn’t obvious, you also cannot submit games that are already published and sold, the game / project must be new.
If you are up to the challenge, there are a few key dates to be aware of!
A brief history of Dream Build Play
Dream Build Play which ran from 2007 through to 2012, has birthed some of the most famous Indies in the years gone by, including:
SKA-Studios with The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai & I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1NIT!!!1 – So famous everyone is still playing their games
Humble Hearts with Dust: An Elysian Tail (which went on to be bought by Microsoft Studios)
Xona Games with Duality ZF (still going strong with new titles being released this year)
Most Studios and 1 man bands, especially those that won, have all gone on to do great things and that was only with a single framework to build it in, Microsoft’s XNA Framework.
Read more about the history of Dream Build Play on Wikipedia.
Now, with the new and improved Dream Build play, the competition is open to anyone and everyone, with any tool, framework or language you wish, with only one single requirement: It must target the Windows 10 Universal Windows Platform.
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