TLDR: Cleaning my study for the first time since 2020 turned up a pile of bits and bobs from the Dreams days. Some random reflections: Twitch and the Dreams community, presenting the first Impy for Favourite Streamer, the signals gadget that never shipped, telling VRChat about OSC, and a launch that COVID wrecked. I'm still dreaming. Doing a bit of a cleanup of my study trying to rearrange
TLDR: We are very quick to hand companies tax breaks. I would rather move the same money from corp structures like VGEC into personal tax credits for UK residents earning in strategic creative sectors. More transparent, survives job moves, makes UK freelancers more affordable and catches the indies VGEC misses. People first, because this industry is built entirely on talent. Right off the bat I
TLDR: Written version of the talk I gave at Develop Brighton 2026. Yes Godot can ship commercial VR, we paid roughly £80k in early adopter tax to do it. War stories from rebuilding Godot's core, the community PS5/PSVR2 port with George Marques and André Ewald, why I ended up writing a whole new render server for 4.7, and a call to arms for platform holders and render programmers. Nothing in
TLDR: Post GodotCon brain dump. First and foremost this is a people problem, process and tools just help us scale our collective fallibility. Three angles on the rest: Juan's anon voting panel proposal (good idea, needs guardrails), AI review (yes, do it, it's already standard at commercial studios), and stack your bloody commits (the only fix you can ship today). Worked example with git commit
TLDR: This is the extended written version of a talk I gave at GodotCon. The 30 minute slot was too short, my delivery was knackered, and I worried on the day that the whole thing came across as too negative — so I'd cut a chunk of positive advice for time, and I've put it back in here. Yes, Godot can ship commercial VR — we did it with Augmental Puzzles. The labour cost was roughly £80k
TLDR: After shipping Augmental Puzzles on Meta (Feb 3rd) and Steam (Feb 13th), I spent a lazy Sunday porting our XR screenshot capture code back to Godot main as a PR. The feature was born from wanting a Subnautica-style in-game feedback screen — capture the full eye view, attach it to a mood-tagged bug report, send it to our ticketing system. Godot's OpenXR viewport capture was broken, so we
Audio Recording this blog post is written from TLDR: Back from Contingency, a lovely residential roleplaying convention in Sunny Hunny. Played and ran a bunch of games including Brindlewood Bay, Shinobigami, For the Queen, and Liminal Horror. Had some important realisations about modern safety tools—particularly the "lay-off/bring-it-on" mechanic borrowed from LARP combat for emotional scenes.
TLDR: Netflix calling out cloud gaming as a 2026 priority to shareholders got me thinking about an entire design space I've been orbiting my whole career. From Buzz controllers to WebSockets to Twitch Plays Dead Nation - there's a rich history here that most people have forgotten, and it's about to become relevant again. I'm too busy getting ready to ship our first VR game as a studio to chase
TLDR: I just watched the Neo trailer. It's creepy as hell, but I'm also really excited. The hardware design is smart: soft plastics, wool, and non-intimidating. It's designed to not be scary, even though it is. VR devices unlock cheap and accurate telerobotics which bridges the AI gap and gives data for building the AI This isn't just about chores; it's a "solid platinum" data collection play.
A mate pinged me recently because a student friend of theirs had a specific question: how do you actually get into game engine development? Not just games programming in general, but proper engine work. It's a brilliant question and one I don't get asked often enough, probably because most people assume you need some sort of dark magic ritual involving assembly code and linear algebra. TLDR:
TLDR OpenXR now has a sensible generic controller profile Digital buttons (menu, primary, secondary) Analogue trigger & grip Joystick axes & touch Grip/Aim pose tracking This is a boring-but-huge deal: no more "laughably unusable" default controller STANDARDS WORK MATTERS and this is an small but important milestone, standards work is often not celebrated enough. It is slow careful compromise
I hit two massive problems a few months back. First, my simple text menus were absolutely destroying performance in VR, especially when adding nodes to the scene tree. Second, the font quality looked like shite. This is the story of that rabbit hole and the custom solution, FastText, that came out of it. TL;DR: If you're using Label3D in Godot for anything more than a couple of labels in a
What do studio closures, a changing funding landscape, cancer, A&E, and co-working spaces have in common? I didn't expect them to be a major part of my last year. As Flammable Penguin Games approaches the one-year mark and the announcement of our first VR title—after cancelling one title and shelving another—I thought it apt to reflect on how what was meant to be a studio with staff is
TLDR: Shipping a game with Godot is hitting all the expected rough patches around polish, tech milestones, and store compliance. The engine's great but the community's mostly hobbyist, so commercial requirements often mean rolling your own solutions. Also, please stop renaming functions in the engine - some of us are trying to ship games here. I knew it was coming, I said as much in my Develop
I've been doing a 30 day video challenge on YouTube and lately speaking a lot about VR topics. VR Standards Dilemma Messy History why PCVR is still a faff Messy History of VR Streaming and today on Split rendering And I thought it would be good to get my ideas back in blog format. Conclusion at the top to save you time Split rendering will likely be a part of future of VR/AR technology, but it's
A short article on a little hobby code project resulting in two watch faces. As long term fan of the best wearable, The Pebble Watch, my wife and I have a real soft spot for the long battery life epaper watch focused on time keeping and bits of useful functionality. The wearable market is dominated by wellness, fitness and subscription based services. The lack of a true pebble successor is a sad
Industry Context Recently, I attended GodotCon and gave a talk at Develop North. GodotCon was eye-opening, and at Develop North, I discussed using Godot professionally. I shouldn't post the talk here, as it's better suited for a conference environment, but much of the information is already on my website in articles. I want to address a phenomenon being discussed in many circles: how does a
There are many reasons I think that Godot is a great technical base and has a robust future, but chiefly among them is the modular way in which things are built and designed with the assumption that parts will be ripped out, replaced and improved. This is done through an easy to approach code base, modules system and robust support for addons and extensions through GDExtension (using godot-cpp)
Disclaimer: This is a bad news bear piece. If you're feeling rough, have a coffee and skip this one. I have spent almost 20 professional years in what I would call the premium gaming market but now almost weekly I hear of layoffs and survive till ‘25 so what does our future look like? Last week I was at GodotCon in Germany which was a great time but a moment to reflect on the shape and scale
It’s been a while since I started this little gamedev journey and I wanted to talk about all the bits that aren’t gamedev so I can share what I’ve been up to. This is also why I say making games as a hobby is a totally valid thing and the gap between hobbyist and professional is larger than people sometimes think. Though if you are interested in crossing the gap maybe this will help. This
I’ve struggled the last two weeks to make time to write about creative tools and volumes. The subject still fascinates me but as I said at the start of this series it was a brain dump before lessons learnt paged out of my brain now I’m no longer at Adobe or thinking about Dreams. Well the brain was not fully dumped the hectic business of running a new studio has meant that it has been
The long-established default in the modeling space has been the transition from pushing pixels to manipulating points in space. Originally defined with a lightpen scanning physical models or handwritten points in code into point clouds. Over time, the ambiguity of points in space led to the dominance of the triangle or surface representation. Today, we explore whether this is still the best
Taking a break from my tools articles to write about Godot on PS5 and PSVR2. I’m going to lay out My disagreement with the statement given Thoughts on W4 vs Foundation lines Go over their reasons Explain my studio plans, which include freely sharing any Godot port work I am sure that there are many things which triggered the Godot foundation to put out an article stating... The Foundation does
At the backend of almost years of creative tooling work with Substance 3D Modeler and Dreams I am brain dumping lessons learnt and this week I want to talk about what the actual data handcuffs are. In a later article I will talk about higher level parts of this problem and solutions but today let’s talk about the true data handcuffs or limitations: HARDWARE! Conclusion at the top as always to
As part of my brain dump series on writing creative tools off the back of Substance 3D Modeler and Dreams I want to talk about WHY I was working on creative tools. Back in 2014 when I first interviewed at PlayStation with hope of being involved in the Morpheus Project, a wire basket VR prototype I had started developing prototypes for as a 3rd party developer at Climax and would later become
As part of my brain dump series on writing creative tools off the back of Substance 3D Modeler and Dreams I want to talk about technical innovation and the importance of your Tech Stack for Virtual Reality productivity and creativity software. So let’s talk about the speed of light and Godot. Conclusion at the top to save you time Speed of Light - What are the physics / hardware constraints
As part of my brain dump series on writing creative tools off the back of Substance 3D Modeler and Dreams I want to talk about the state of Virtual Reality for productivity and creativity. So let’s talk about VR fatigue. Conclusion ; TLDR Use VR, you will solve fatigue issues as you find them User will be seated, head tilted down with arms at their side Passthrough is important, immersion is
August 2nd was my last day on Adobe Substance 3D Modeller. There is an FREE Open Beta and you should go try it: Open Beta Why? I’m starting an indie VR game dev studio. Could not be more excited! I can’t talk much about that yet BUT after working on PlayStation Dreams and then Modeller I think my time working on creative tools is at an end and I want to brain dump before this stuff fades
I'm working on a VR game in Godot 4.x and well it has been long since that I admitted I would need to hack open the engine and make changes. I am trying to keep that to a minimum I talk about that about why the last game was shelved in this video. Now as progress on the new game is going well I want to talk about -two things- when you should C++. Problem: Cut a mesh in VR very fast GDSCript is
So recently I closed off my Second Moon DnD campaign after two and half years. Which was great and honestly give me a wonderful sense of completion. That being said I'm also really excited to dig into non-DnD systems again. On the table we discussed Heart, Scum and Villany and Wildsea. Obviously by the title you know we selected Wildsea. Once again I'm using my own wiki golang code to run and
I've been thinking a lot lately about dice rolls as I consider reviving my old Channels of Power ttrpg and doing a v2.0 and launching some new campaigns and modules but this got me thinking about my old friend, dice probability. The classic d20 is a flat probability curve with a BROAD range with small bonus meaning that the curves are wild. You ALWAYS have a 5% chance of guaranteed success or
Are you ready for an adventure? Last week, I returned to the world of roleplaying for the first time in years. I journeyed to Con-tingency, an epic event held at Searles Leisure Resort in Hunstanton from 18th to 22nd January 2023. With three slots of four hours each, I delved into a diverse variety of roleplaying games, board games, and all-around fun. This event is the spiritual successor to
Loving this idea of using Midjourney to document Dungeons and Dragons sessions. There is an issue with consistency and certain fantasy races but overall it really captures the feel of the sessions and the progress. It's great to see the session laid out visually. Brigadier's New Armor Kelly rallies the camp Public Whipping Feast to celebrate Dissection of Chiwi Chiwi Problems with Portal Camp
I've been running a DnD games again. I am enjoying it so far. It is good to be rolling dice in person again. The campaign is actually running across multiple groups. Some of which are at the London DnD Meetup. So I've decided to publish some of the notes on my webpage to make it easier for players to reference stuff and intro players. Second Moon Notes Also, I made a fun video of the setting
Can You Breathe The air lay heavy with anticipation, the high sun casting shadows in sharp relief on the edge of the treeline. Pickle could easily pick out the twisted shape impaled with the javelin she had shot moments before. The corpse was bubbling and fuming with acrid black smoke. Now it appeared to be melting around the shaft, sliding down slowly. The screams had lasted less than a second,
New Routine Over the next two weeks, Pickle started to enjoy life on watch. For the first time in her life, she had a routine. While her control was limited, she felt empowered and knew what tomorrow would bring. It was strangely peaceful. Gone were the endless days of darkness, crawling to find nuggets to extend her life, running from place to place, constantly on alert or surrendering to the
The Ball Twins "Lock it and stock it." Gunther's voice brought her back into the moment as Pickle looked around the echoing underground train platform. The room was just long enough to accommodate the open train on rails with a small walkway upfront with a glittering bronze shaft perhaps two meters across running from floor to ceiling. The ceiling almost ten meters high above them, hard to tell
Echoes of Sin Watching Malcolm's long dark frame sagging, all the threatening strength rushing out. A mountain of power collapsing in on itself. Falling to his knees, vibrant colours flowing away from him and washing over Pickle. The last echos of powerful magical work. Lost in amazement, as she let the coating of magic flow over her skin, Pickle felt at peace. A wake of rainbow glycerine flecks
Journey to the Edge "Easy there. You have quite the nasty knock there, Pumpkin." Stirring from her dazed state and looking through powder mist as her brain cleared of powered frost and fog. She said the first thing which came to her mind, "For saying name's Pickle, not Pumpkin." "Well, whatever it is, you still took quite a fine tumble onto our resident grump. I want you to be careful there. Sit
Leave it all Behind Pickle approached Platform 13 with a smile and a confident step only to find a great deal of motion had ensued in her minutes in the office of the scribe. She paused to see Gunther locked in a shouting match with a small man who was wielding a stack of papers like a furious baton of authority. Meanwhile, a flurry of activity was happening on the platform behind them, the
Platform 13 She pulled the helmet tight, checking the clasp once more in front of the big metal dome as the cold morning air washed over her. Trains rumbled in and out of the station. Looking up towards the pink dust sky torn by gravity trails travelling south. She knew what lay south. It wasn't hope. She saw a single knotted rope of distortion tearing to the heavens, its frayed bottom torn
Well, after almost 15 years chasing video games, I decided to do a bit of a side step. I still love games, and I could easily see myself working on them again. At this point, I looked out at stuff, and well, this seemed the right move. Leaving Mm and Sony was a tough call, but I wanted to push VR, and well, I knew that PSVR2 was mostly locked. I could see the road ahead for me in my role, and it
First off new job which means a bunch of things but mostly a project update. The video should be on the main page at the time of posting but here is a link if your in the future. I've updated the experiments page with a range of stuff. Here is a brief overview. Software / Hardware Dev ThimBall Controller - Alternative VR controller design TinyXR - OpenXR / Vulkan engine with SDF / Volumetric
I'm now officially protected against Covid, or rather in two to three weeks, have a pretty good immune response, with a second jab bringing me up to the high 90s. That is because I went I got my first jab thanks to the NHS deeming me a high risk younger person. No idea what put me in that risk group, potentially my weight which hasn't been great. I thought it might be helpful to note some
Recently I've had a bit more time between leaving Media Molecule and starting my new job. I want to explore a few concepts, some of which I think are worth writing up, if only to work the ideas through my fingers. Lip Syncing in virtual reality is an interesting one that seized my grey gooey bits the other day so let us explore it. The issues with computers are they like numbers. If we were to
"There is some surprising complexity in this isekai." That was the line my wife blurted after she asked me was it good. It's honestly a fun romp I would recommend to anyone as being both silly and wholesome. It maintains a unique flavour while "conforming" to several tropes. It has some surprising nuance in places for all the silliness of the premise and tropes of the genre. I would strongly
My lovely Ducky got me Artemis for Chrismas. I confess I skipped this one hearing mixed reviews, but with a lovingly gifted paperback sitting on the lounge table, it seemed time to tackle it. I quickly ate up the novel in two days, its an easy and compelling read but the entire time I was groaning and reading awkward passages aloud to her. Overall the plot will carry you through, and the science
So I realised one of the reasons I don't post as often to my website is that often content is not blog worth but its more substantial than a tweet. When Twitter started we referred to it as a Micro Blogging service. There where some other competitors, such as Tumblr but it really stole the spotlight and solidified the idea. I still need to make my Golang static website generator update AWS but
It's been almost SIX bloody years since this website has been blogged on my own site! I kept trying to do reworks and rewrites, but I never got them fully functional. So sod it. I hacked at the system already in place, and I'm in the process of applying a fresh lick of paint.
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.
Another Develop in stormy Brighton brought friends, drinks and catch-up on various game topics. I was fortunate enough to have Sony send me, and disappointed my talk wasn’t part of the roster. This year was different from the years before for me but that’s another blog post.
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.
It’s not a problem often talked about, but most the world is run by the extroverts. People skills and enjoying people is a potent aide. Like any skill it can be learnt and trained but people have different desires and some find it a real chore, others a pleasure. The tech world is not like this.
So I was just reading this article on erasing the eraser, the importance of seeing your errors in education. The article ends claiming this is too extreme and points to IT as being the future and asking if we are going, “ban the delete key”. To which I say YES! BBC Article.
I don’t have much time to maintain this site my primary requirements are. Simple to maintain. Easy to post blogs. Host about me, cv ect... Low Cost. Easy to index. Previously I was using Wordpress with some custom JS, it was clunky but it worked.
Game Designers around the world are addicted to performance enhancing drugs and many of them don't know it. They are addicted to progression and escalation.
Originally written for Climax Studios for publication in Develop. Reposted with Permission. Also since I wrote the original article E3 happened and Sony has revealed a lot more of the stratergy, some of which is shown in this video which is a good primer on the subject.
Originally written for #altDev Often posts from a personal perspective are a contrite, self-promotion exercise of polishing the trumpets. They can also be an honest expression sometimes lost in the NDA red tape culture.
Originally written for AltDevBlog My friends know I’ve been struggling to write this article for months, struggling with the tone and the question: so I ask you, Why? It’s the most important question you can ask yourself, though asking it is never easy.
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.
Games Horizon is an annual conference in Newcastle aimed at big ideas and business of games. This year brought a reasonable speaker line-up, a brilliant foam ball microphone Q&A system, well organised parties and a good attendance.
Originally posted on #AltDevBlogADay. Several weeks ago, triggered partly by work events and partly Diablo III release I started really thinking about why I play[1]. What is Play to me and how can I make games that speaks to my soul and are worth my time in crafting?
Originally written for #AltDevBlogADay A video recently cycled through my friends’ social circles which I wanted to share. John Cleese talks about Creativity and Open and Closed thinking modes. The TL;DR of John Cleese’s talk Closed Mode. Purposeful Highly Productive , but not creative.
Originally written for #AltDevBlogADay Take a moment, think back, past the nostalgia and sepia dreams so we can consider old, forgotten mechanics. The thing we love about games is that they are complex and detailed but primarily, they are games.
Originally Written for #AltDev A year ago ago I signed up to this service, TimeHop, which emails me my tweets and status updates from a year ago, and it has been strangely motivating. To see my growth, challenges and remind me of my goals, my dreams, my successes and my failures.
Written for #AltDevBlog. In some cases the most destructive action one can perform on the creative psyche is to give it absolute freedom. The blank page, blue sky, and empty word document are among the most terrifying monsters in the creative world. Apply artificial Constraint.
Original written for AltDevBlogADay Do you ever open an academic text or scary PDF, scan for code snippets, pretty pictures, maybe read a bit then run for the hills?
Sometimes you’re asked to design for the untestable scenario. For instance, design a system for 10,000 players to asynchrously interact in a persistent competitive world with progression mechanics that plays out over 3 months.
Originally written for #AltDevBlogADay The forbidden knowledge of the game industry is mostly acquired over a smoke or drink in the pub, parking lot and corridors of conferences. Though the personal scars slowly form our own tales over the years which are then shared in similar back alley fashion.
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.
This year was the first time I was involved in Dare to be Digital. Now I’ll admit that due to time commitments and unfamiliarity, I sent others from my team to mentor but agreed to judge. Now I’m kicking myself, why did I pass up the opportunity to mentor such amazing and brilliant students.
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. Everyone in the trenches has to be useful. Supplement don’t Replace ? So acquire some “Hard Skills” fast and be useful.
Our profession develops, we form conventions and a toolbox of useful solutions. These tools make us faster, and more efficient. Conventions are not only developer driven but player driven as we define the language of games. The real question is when to break convention?
Over the last year a lot of time has been spent thinking, writing and developing my thoughts on social gaming and by extension micro transactions. The last few months of my professional life have involved some fairly complex and sometimes scary monetisation designs and discussions.
I’ve got a question: “Do you respect your designers?” Growing up I always wanted to make games, and gravitated to programming as the means to achieve this.
Originally written for #AltDevBlog: Link to Original Post Games let us craft interactive systems in which we can play and explore. We play with limited rule-sets, physics, combat, squad based AI, and a million other complex systems which give us a world to explore.
Before moving forward with the problem we need to understand where we are coming from and the realities of the situation. The Evolution of the Dialogue Tree. Traditional Dialogue Example. Social Agent: Academic Backdrop. Social Agent: Game Industry Realities
I attempt to describe what the next 12 weeks roughly will be for me as I explore the problem of social interaction as defined in games. I give a brief outline of the concepts as a shallow introduction to the topic. Defining the Scope of the Problem
Originally written for #AltDevBlogADay As game developers we know the importance of Feedback in our games for players, but so often we forget the importance of feedback for ourselves. Implementing good feedback loops in your production cycle can be just as important.
When I first started to enjoy games on my C64 alongside the board games and role-playing games one thing was king, limitations of the medium. Shortly afterwards I learnt BASIC then C, and started making my own games some on paper, and I fell in love with the grid.
Disclaimer: I’m not claiming games which use these mechanics are in any way lesser. I’m merely highlighting these as easy ways to sauce up a game.
Back in the day... okay that makes me sound old. Seriously though I picked up 3D Studio Max way back when. I remember eagerly awaiting the character studio with 2.5.... and well lets just say I've been using Max a very very long time. I'm familiar with it and happy with it but well it's expensive!
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.
So about two years ago I discovered the Lets Play phenomnia on YouTube thanks to Kikoskia and his awesome X-Com playthough. Which was a game I love and have played many times. I quickly discovered this is a design goldmine. Go to YouTube and search for "Lets Play" right now.
XKCD: Stop and Think. So other than the occasional project posting my posts have gone down. This isn't because my writing has decreased but because of a new method I have. Oooh I have an idea. Is it offensive, or NDA? Then rant to friends or co-workers as appropriate.
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.
Puzzle Scrambling itself with easy Physics. So this weekend the theme was Discovery which really inspired me. The plan was simple. Build a 3D Spatial Puzzle based on a secret phrase. The phrase is revealed when the person completes the puzzle.
My year as per Facebook.
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 .
Cut out the middle man! How many times have you heard that said as a positive call to action? Well there is a darker side to this glorious plan. It stems simply from this question, "What does the Middle Man do?". If your answer is take our money and invent work then shame on you.
Level Up - Scott Pilgrim style. On reflection of this month my NanoWriMo project which I was really keen on is just not going to fit into my spare time at the moment. In better news I'm now Lead Designer at GameLabs Jagex. Wooooot! All quite amazing to be honest.
Quality of Life is so crucial, but so are your dreams. My entire adult life I have been broke, overworked and dealing with a whole side plate of stuff. So what's the biggest perk of me new job? No overtime !
So I've lost sleep over the last week because I've been trying to convince people Social games are not evil. I've had some good counter arguments thrown at me. Sleep lost. Counter Arguments and finally I hit on the key. So I recorded a Presentation With AUDIO. ....but then the audio didn't record.
Game Flow So basically that's the game flow detailed there. The mission select is of course random. Tonight development goal is as follows. Build a blueprint and save it. One Page Designs. I am becoming a bigger fan of vector based one page designs.
So POV declared The October Challenge : Make a game in a month and sell it. New Grid system for Game. The game is relatively simple and based in the Channels of Power world using some ideas from the MMO I was making. The idea is I will use Google App Engine as a backend and Unity as a front end.
This article is the first part of a two part discussion I wish to explore. A law for us and a law for them, the private law or privilege of a group.
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.
Tavern Talk. Okay it doesn't look like much but there is a LOT of back-end going into this. With some good work but tonight I should be able to parse the scene script. Still haven't solved my combination problem for the Gaussian Probability Sets . I have the question up on Math StackExchange .
Okay so talk about timing. Just days after my last post it's announced classic team based tactical game Jagged Alliance is getting an online treatment.
As I currently furiously work on my Data Driven Dialogue system for the end of the month delivery and continue my job hunt with furious speed. There is one other project I desperately want to approach!
Need Intel? I'm loving Starcraft 2 at the moment, and it got me thinking about my love of imperfect information in games design. I strongly recommend A Game of Thrones (board game) and Frozen Synapse , which also introduce blind simultaneous action which make it even more interesting.
Mere-Mortals games division is now shut. We were working late a few weeks back when the news was delivered and well the final final final letter came through today. It's all quite a process, which started with a large round of redundancies as we tried to pull through but couldn't.
Of course there is a story So the data driven dialogue project is moving along and well a simple problem arises. The more mechanic driven and gamey your game is, Ludology focused, the easier it is to scrape and implement a data driven dialogue system.
Working on my Cave Generator. Task List. Trace Wall Outlines. Smooth Lines. Generate 3D Geometry
So I was listening to Another Castle interview the extremly interesting Eric Zimmerman . They were talking about the subverssive nature of play when my brain started drifting to tutorials, thinking about Limbo. Then I realised that not once on Glo did we ask, do we need tutorials ?
I pull in Nick Lewis and Neil Richardson again to discuss some technical art talks from Develop. The main talks we focus on are Jolyon Webb from Blitz games RnD talk, and a talk about the EyePet from James Answer. We talk about RnD teams, and process.
So got back from Develop and was slightly wiped out. So no podcast today, hoping to pipe one out on Monday. I apologise for the delay. There is good covereage at Develop site and some funny and very good coverage at RPS .
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.
Get Talking So I have some paper examples composed. They serve to demonstrate, but I feel are rather lacking. I don't think the true nature and power of the system will be exposed until I plug it into a living system or game. Examples. Agent Knowledge Example. Query & Response Example.
Sales in a Can? There is no magic, silver bullet, secret recipe or hidden formula. These words have been spoken many times by more successful, intelligent and thoughtful people than me. Yet people still seem unable to listen. Quality is the primary thing.
XML Data formatted with CSS. Over 13,000 characters and this blasted XML is still not complete enough to provide a decent concrete example. Thank you CSS for making it legible to the human eye. I may look at doing some examples tomorrow night.
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.
Image from Matt Hamm. So Games Horizon Conference for the second year running really pushed the social and freemium agenda. My viewpoint, shared by others I spoke to, is that the social gold rush is over but social is here to stay.
Aquattack! for PSP minis. Free the captured fish before the fishermen haul in their nets! Try to beat your high score in arcade mode, or play against the clock in one of the 50 individual challenges. On sale 7th July 2010 in the PlayStation®Store. It's out next week folks.
Peter Molyneux - Creative Director Really enjoyed this talk, a real breath of fresh air. The press coverage of this has mostly been terrible focusing on sound bytes and out of context bits of information, ah well.
So I just got back from Games Horizon at Sage in Gateshead. Really awesome small conference which lets you really network and connect with people and some great speakers. Most of the real buzz from the conference has already hit the web by more talented writers than me.
Formatting data into a meaningful representation is a whole area of study. XML is a wonderful way to format data. Using a bit of CSS to transform XML into prettiness is a wonderful way of formatting it. Well still loads todo but progress is here. XML Data (WIP) Reference Scenario
So I pulled in our two Testers, Andy Bell (@acidphire21) and Stephen Rowe to talk about the joys and realities of being a games tester. Here is a rough order of things we talk about, no transcript I'm afraid. What Reality Bomb would you drop on someone looking to be a tester?
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.
Hi all, So the website rework has been quite an endeavour made more complex by changing providers, being busy at work and going into hospital. The good news is the Comic Viewer 0.1 is written and working. It's stutters and has rough edges but I'm happy with it.
Progress Shots
So I was so tired of seeing a computer the last few days I switch to paper notes for a while. Still need to scan / transcribe them to digital format. Here are some highlights. Key Points.
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 some actions can affect multiple targets, my old model ignored this and hence broke in a few places. I’ve now fixed this. This resolves a few graph query issues I was having. Containers. Aaah yes arbitrary containers are extremely useful in a graph systems.
Okay so loads of code written, which has really found holes and helped smooth out the model. Query Graph. Okay so the most basic Query format is a Graphed Query. Pop-able Context. Any item which is pop-able can throw away it’s parents without loss of information.
Sadly no pretty pictures, but loads of progress. That’s the sad truth of programming, loads of boring text before anything cool happens. So what are you seeing. Query Response Format working. People, Locations, Objects populating with random generator. No Events Yet.
Almost missed last bus home. Really good progress has been made. Lots of clean up and refactoring making good headway. Query & Response format cermented. Basic test bed in. Hard coded a random populator to fill values. Unified time sensitive atom structure. More tomorrow (^_^)
So I wrote this long article about how I switched to an Atomic data model. How this is one possible implementation of the proposed model. Different code would be written based on language, memory and cpu restrictions. The implementation is a proof of concept . It does not define the model .
Please excuse the mess while I setup. The new site should ve running soon with a podcast to match.
Not much progress tonight. Looking at examples and the refrence scenario, getting bogged down in detail. Will look at a code implementation of Thursday
Dissertation: Atomic Structure A sample atomic structure laid out in a document. Query and Response forms also discussed.
So there is a slight glitch with the reflection but ALMOST there.
So for those of you curious I’m throwing down some water rendering magic. Not to mention real-time environment cube mapping. Behold the result. So it’s broken and the ocean needs some motion ( pun fully intended ). I also may be slightly sleep deprived… but onwards and upwards.
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.
Animation test for Hand
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.
My Kingdom for a Team. What’s the best tool to explore and solve problems? Explain it to someone else. It’s good enough for Sherlock Holmes and its good enough for me. I hate working in isolation because you don’t need to justify or explain yourself to people.
GUI Work. The big choices I’m facing at the moment and playing around is on two fronts, GUI Behaviour and Render Pipeline. Fighting through some choices… will post more shortly
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.
Okay so I’m dropping out of the compo, with 12 hours left to go. I could make a game but the important parts are done and I just got a much needed reminder to get back on track.
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.
So the second biggest shot, the walk up and meep sequence needs some polish. I need to re-render it at a higher quality. The little guy needs to blink. I wasn’t happy with light balls. Now the real question… White or Green lighting strip?
Classic Dialogue for the Inn-Keeper Well it took much longer than I expected. First Complete Draft of the old Style dialogue tree. Now to replace it with my new system.
Work in Progress: Innkeep Dialogue Only about 70% progress. Still so simple, ye gods this takes forever to write. So glad my dissertation is how to improve this. Cause I’m passionate about character interaction, but this makes you realise why you don’t see it that much.
Event Details - Some Notes. Events are data blocks which are used to construct the dialogue system. The full list of blocks are as follows. Events. Locations. People. Where: The location where the event occurred. When : A fixed time, as to when the event occurred . Actors (1..N).
Today’s Plan. Compile the Inn-Keepers Dialogue the old fashioned way. Create the interaction in AGS. Email my supervisor to bring him up to date. Side Note: Rave music is much better than Jazz for writing long boring scripts.
I am back at work. My laptop is 20hrs into a 90hr render. Post from iPhone as my laptop is locked in the grasp of uber render.
Okay so the day has been super productive even if it required me to learn a whole new graphing system. So the point is this writing dialogue trees is a pain in the neck. Also what’s the correct approach for the dissertation.
Dissertation: Progress So I’ve made the reference document (see link). I’m extremely impressed with Adventure Game Studio. Made a simple game in it, now I just need to do the dull task of writing all those dialogue trees.
Reference Scenario. I’ve intentionally kept it trim, and avoided too much unnecessary detail. Defining that skeleton would be enough for a GM in a role-playing game to run the Public House room of the Inn. So I’m going to take a break now, then look at implementing the scene in AGS.
So Saturday night and all of Sunday was written off thanks to my house-mate having a house-party before going out for drinks, follow by early morning noise and more drinks… finally Sunday lots of hangover rugby players around the house. Preventing any real work.
So I’ve been trying to do the following tasks today. Create Scenario Reference. Draft scenario and characters. Draft topics of conversation. Compile Final Scenario reference. Complete creative today block.
Aim. To create a data-driven system for use in the games industry that will generate complete social interactions using seeded scenarios which expands based on player interactions and arbitrary input. This is an alternative to dialogue trees. Task List.
The task list is getting chomped through. Some proof reading needs to be done, but ultimately I think I can close up the Machine Learning task and put up my feet for the rest of the day. :) Evaluate Dataset. Choose Classification Method Justify. Implement Method. Measure Accuracy. Discuss Issues.
Machine Learning: First Pass I still need to write my conclusion and improvements. Not to mention Proof Reading. Also the code, sanitised data and outputs are not attached. Looks like with a bit more work I can put a ribbon on this assignment
So I’ve been trying to normalise and format the data-set for consumption and processing. Some key points. Random Corruptions. Some Data is outside the specified range. The module code column needs to be ignored as there is no way to convert it into input which is expressed as a float.
Machine Learning. The task list is getting chomped through. Evaluate Dataset. Choose Classification Method Justify. Implement Method. Measure Accuracy. Discuss Issues. Discuss Reliability. Suggest Improvements Data gathering. Processing.
First Draft: Virtual Pets (Reinforcement Learning) Uni Assignment Well the first draft is there. The assignment says approx 1500 words, I’m currently sitting at 1190, excluding footnotes and such.
Write a short essay on the topic approximately 1500 words . Describe an example of an artificial intelligent system.Identify as precisely as possible that aspect of the behaviour that makes it ‘intelligent’. Explain how that intelligence is achieved.
Lets put a pin on it. Well the animation on the screen, I had ideas of really complex animations and stuff but it doesn’t really need it an time is short. So I just made a quick avi of scrolling code, it seems to fit. Also the cuteness of Frank is in the tube.
All done. The pipes are cleaned up. I’m not cleaning the IK pipe as its a messy mangle, but I’m leaving it in because its educational and this is a university assignment. I’ll just make sure the camera avoids it. Tried making the red lights wash more to the nearby materials.
Overnight. Okay so some serious progress with texturing, cameras, materials and the like. The render times are getting silly though. I rendered an overnight job at full quality every 45th frame (not all included due to Tumblr limit).
Success!!! Doesn’t look very different but its VERY different. The wires animate around the pipes. The second pipe is in using spline & loft (animates nicer than my messy IK). Everything without a proper UV map has been mapped.
Animation Task List So I’m focusing on the Multimedia module if you haven’t noticed. I’ve updated the task list and crossed off a few. Still no good way to export or print off Google tasks. Hopefully the animation work should be finished by Wednesday.
Wire Solution: Snap, Tweak, Loft. So after having headaches trying to think how to do wires I am reminded by how much familiarity increases speed. Be it a familiar language, setting, project, or 3d modelling package.
Distractions Away. Got a bit delayed today, power ran out so my alarm didn’t go off. Anyway got to it. After some initial worrying about multi-materials, UV mapping, the list goes on… I said, “Away with thee Daemons!”.
Glass Glass Glass. Wrapping my head around the materials system again. I think the work will need some great texturing and lighting to come alive. Also I think the quality of the green goo and smoke will have a high impact. I still want to keep things light though.
Rusty to the Max. So I’ve been moddelling most of this afternoon and remembering how rusty I am at this stuff. Trying to decide on the work flow path to take.
Social Media. The mess of social presence. I am currently on. Twitter. Facebook. Linked In. Google Profiles. Blogger. Personal Website: Flammable Penguins. Tumblr. Four Square. Buzz. Now this…
Claire’s Consciousness Calls: Designing with Limitations. Count the umms, arrs, tongue clicks and extended vowels as I stumble unedited through the topic of embracing the pain and abuse you will receive to your sparkling wide eyed puppy of an idea. Define Limitation. Reasons and Logic.
The mess of social presence. I am currently on. Twitter. Facebook. Linked In. Google Profiles. Blogger. Personal Website: Flammable Penguins. Tumblr. Four Square. Buzz. Now this fracture social presence makes it hard to unify things and publish things.
Case Project. Created Project. Menu System. Networking. Skinned Animated Models. Sounds like a lot but in reality I stole the Network State Sample and Skinned Model Sample used some duct tape and got to work.
Soooo the university tasks list commences. I have a short amount of time to do a lot of overdue work :P. Story Board Notes. Camera fly around. Focus on Read outs. Start Drainage. Camera pull back for full view. Drain tube and drop lid. Heavy smoke emissions from the top of the tube.
Claire’s Consciousness Calls: Women in Games. Women in Games conference canceled due to ‘low delegate numbers’ got me so angry I just had to get my voice onto the web again. DISCLAIMER: CCC is provided as it without editing, umms, arrrs, ands, possibly with a swear word or two.
I have been struggling with this concept ever since I was eight. Narrative vs Ludology. By Narrative I mean story-telling and Ludology I mean pure game play. Introduction.
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, really working hard at the moment to get that last little bit of polish onto Encleverment. As anyone who talks to me can tell I really do love this little game and want to use every last bit of time I have left to squeeze those little bits and pieces in and shine them up.
Hi Again. I'm working like crazy on Encleverment at the moment so sorry for the late post. Just one attached note before the LARP post. I love MMO but I wouldn't be caught dead making one, why you ask? MMO's are risky, very risky.
Hi All, I haven't forgotten about the MMO piece, the next part, "Problem: Didn't I just kill you? (Reality in a Persistent world)" will be up sometime Monday. I had a great time at Games Horizon conference.
Hi all, before you ask I don't know how many parts this series will have. I have a rough outline of what I want to work through but nothing solid. Once it's all done I do plan to compile it into a more structured article. On a side note Game Horizon is tomorrow.
Similar to the chosen one problem, but with a few more difficulties is kingship. Hierarchies are natural, humans are not anarchists by nature. Now if your playing with yourself and your robot slaves you can rule or be ruled. Playing with other people it becomes more difficult.
Okay I've found some topics I want to write a lot about, so I'm going to make a compromise and break them into smaller posts. Once they are all done I'll put together a complete article or podcast. First some news updates.
So I was stumbling along when I found this little site. Its pretty basic but that's exactly why its good. So here is the link. Java Games Programming. CSC207 by Philip Hanna. There are six tutorials leading up to a top down game.
So one of the projects I did some programming on is now released. Here is the official trailer. I didn't spend much time on it what with my time on Encleverment Experiment, but I helped out and I'm credited so smiles all round ^_^. P.S.
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.
Hi All, I've been crazy busy in so many ways that I've neglected to keep my web presence updated. I blame all the networking tools like Facebook and Linked In because to some extent they remove the need. The main goal will just to realign the site to more suite my needs.
So another weekend and more pain! :D. I threw this together from some of my old art
Weekend of Code. All aboard the fail-train. We got a few submissions but it seems the cholate confusion meant this WOC failed. I got a few entries from the regulars but the final years were too busy, fair enough. The second years on the whole display no motivation to make games, expected.
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.
Less than 24 hours left to. Submit before noon on Monday. submission closed. Best of Luck
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.
A to Z with a Twist is an exploration into racing games and freerunnnig games where we are trying to get from A to Z but we add something to make it interesting. BE CREATIVE AS POSSIBLE as the whole idea of this weekend is to take risks and explore. Focus on the twist not the racing.
The next weekend of code is on Easter weekend. Not planned but I kinda forget when Easter was back in January. Which was when the date was set. We are currently asking a game company to supply us with the theme and some feedback. More info as it becomes available.
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.
Welcome back folks. The new site is launched. We outline some PTK stuff that I showed the first years. We play a bit of catch up and talk about University work. Topics. Welcome Back. Big Thank You. PTK. University Catch Up. Links. Code Refrence. Libaries, Source and Presentation.
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.
So its here the website's fresh coat of paint. Bear with me over the next few days as the goal is to have the site fully alive and kicking by the 1st March. I can promise a podcast episode this week however and more intresting things to come. I'll be keeping you all posted.
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
One-Button Joystick. Friendly to all Ages. Collection Element. Details. Your game input can only be a directional input and an action button. Up to 8 directions, keyboard or joystick allowed only one action button. There must be an element of collection or pick-up. More Details.
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 next weekend of Code is here. First Weekend of December I've been talking to the guys who run our course at Northumbria and a few hopeful third parties about getting more out of these weekends. So I cannot promise anything yet but its open to all, but focused at games students.
We talk about the weekend of code. We talk about essential game design and inheritance. So come and join me and Neil. Topics. Weekend of Code. Base Structure. Inheritance. Static, Dynamic and Reinterpret casting. Links. Inheritance at CPlusPlus. Game Object Structure: Inheritance vs. Aggregation.
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 .
So this weekend we are having a weekend of code. Basically the competition is simple. You have a weekend to make a game . The Rules and Hints can be found here . Final Themes. This is the final list of themes for this weekend. The official theme will be announced at 1800 on Friday (UK time).
RSS MP3. [Warning: Non-technical cast. Normal show style returns next week.] So we are back! I've moved into a house of Crazy. Prepare to meet. Jason: Web Head. Neil: Audiophile and Angry Guy. Dash: The Dutchman. Dan: The Last One. Together they make my new home the Pixel Place the place it is.
Too much squirrely goodness... must consume the Squirrel! Okay So I'm back from Gencon just want to get the first load off my skull then I'll do a proper post later. It was great, four days of roleplaying. Trip down was made fun with having allies.
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.
So I've been battling with a couple of things. The message system, stage projection and clicking un-projection. Anyway its getting on, but I thing I might need to get myself an artist. The little Chibi graphics are from teej's pixel joint just as a place holder.
So the thing is like this. The Queen's Birthday is on the telly and pizza is on the cook. Well I have to say its a funny feeling. Its strange. Oh well what to say facebook, red vs blue, hoodwinked and worms. Trying to get mind in order to code.... is it just me or is my mind on drugs.
So there is this great competition being run by some guys in South Africa which brings me out of the overtime coma. They are running a competition for an educational game which is sadly only open to South African citizens. *Rushes to dig out passport* Wooopeee!
I really wish I knew who to give credit to for this image, its great and serves to illustrate two points. Everyone should prepare for the Dawn of the Dead moment and humanity fears zombies because many of us are becoming Zombies.
Hi guys and girls, I'm crunching through my maths assignment and what not. I had a few spare hours today but I threw them at an incomplete entry into LD48. I know I know priorities. Go check out the contest though over at wavelength.
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.
Come join us for another great 48hr game comp. Ludum Dare! This weekend we join the insanity known as game development in the truest spirit of creativity and basement coding. Ludum Dare
RSS MP3. So I promised to continue the game framework discussion would continue. This week we dive a bit deeper into organising things. Topics. Our big first year maths assignment. A quick talk about Headers and Objects. Creating STL compliant Objects. Using STL to manage data.
RSS MP3. So lets get started on a little project. We shall from scratch create a PTK game framework which we shall be expanding on. I'm not throwing you guys in the deep end yet but I hope to ramp up to speed soon. Links. Helper Files. PTK Libary. PTK Forum. STL Guide for next week.
This Bone Marrow story cheered me up for a different reason to most discussing it. Simply put its a break through for human liberty and a free society. Why you ask? Well because the method used to grow sperm could be used by lesbian couples to have a genetic child.
So I wake up at six at the morning, then I shuffle off to work. A one hour commute, then a eleven hour work shift. One more hour to get home, east then to bed. That is it at the moment. Oh and did I mention that I'm working Saturday as well.
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.
. Sinfest makes this little grin appear on my face as I plot world domination. Its not like I want to rule the world I just have to for the sake of others..... no really its an act of mercy. So I got a listing on facebook, got a shout from a ghost of the past, missed my podcast on the weekend.
Sorry everyone but I'm really sick at the moment. Have been for a while and I'm trying to kick it. Thanks for all the feedback on he last show.
RSS MP3. We talk about the how to shake and move the pixels. What your going to need is a timer with a marker pen, a needle with a thread, A sprite sheet with a palette, a collection of blank pages. No that's not right you need a keyboard and understanding of how not to drop the reference.
RSS MP3. RSS. MP3. Come and let us tackle the pretty and fun world of 2D games. The best and funnest way for quick and small games. On the plate this week we have an errata to last weeks cast, some announcements, the history of 2d games and the basic setup of 2d game. Links. Good Text mode demo.
I feel about this tolerant of idiots at the moment.
RSS MP3. So we talk memory management, pointers and the insanity caused by leaks and overflows. So come talk static plumbing with us as we dive into the heap and stack on the terrible puns. So onwards to the ramblings of insane programmer with a mic and block of cheese.
You know I need to get some trained monkeys I can tie down for a podcast each week. Okay boys and girls the podcast has failed this week AGAIN! I will try a Wednesdays / Thursday post with none other than Flammable Penguins Co-Founder. Then on Sunday with a normal cast.
Oh why oh why do I take my hard earned achievements and rub them into the cake batter for the little monsters of my id to devour. I dot know but I do go all out icing and cherries.
We as human creatures build are not naturally paid up members of society we need to be shuffled and bounced by the Brownian motion of society mixing our thoughts and desires with others to build our humanity. In short killing monsters doesn't make us level hugging strangers does.
Sorry about the missed show, I know I sound like a broken record but well Daniels laptop had its power pack go pop and Emma is still having some problems so it was a no go. I do promise that some real nice shows are on their way this next week which will be guaranteed.
I was going to moan and bitch about work and what happened to me today which let me tell you follks annoies me on genocidal levels of epic proportios.... however when I got back I saw this video in my inbox. I gotta saw the 80s always amuse and entertain me.
I won't bloody the floor with the victims or my anger. Basically this is it my life goes through rocky periods. I don't like to throw my misery on the net or onto other people who have too many problems. I don't repress them.... GOD NO!
RSS MP3. We talk about whether or not games make you think and what we can do to make smarter games. So using Genetic programming a few drinks and a love of games come in and join us. Also as promised I've linked the Checkers game below, be sure to check out the code before the next cast. Links.
I'm having trouble updating the site. The RSS feed and Odeo sites are both up to date however so click on the podcast link and you'll be able to get it all. When I get back from work I'll also throw up update to the site. Hope you enjoy the new show, please send us your feedback.
A new podcast is already recorded and edited but I'm having some trouble uploading to Odeo. I promise the podcast will be up by midnight tonight even if I have to host it on a temporary ftp so I'll see you all in a few hours.
Hi all sorry about he faulty start to new years but hey what are you going to do this time of year being what it is. I will maintain my promise of 52 shows. It just means we will have to do some double pod weeks, I'll save them for some special occasions.
Well its another year and yes we are planning to get back on track. The things I could tell you all.... aaa to be completely and utterly f***ed by life. No problem I will just have to reprogram the universe at runtime.
RSS MP3. Christmass is here and so is our show. Oh well we have our Wii's, XNA launched, played Gears of War and University has closed down for the winter break. How do we feel about normal maps and Pizza? Come in and Find out. Links. XNA Website. Sensor Bar Explained. Wii Accelaromter Explained.
Sorry about the mess folks I've been cleaning up things a lot on my side. One thing I can annouce for sure is Hamster is gone. Will he be on the podcast again... no! Will we ever see him again? Well I suppose its on how well he navigates the game. Hehe, silly Hamster.
I work hard to keep this blog *clean*. That has come to mean a lot of things to mean, mostly it means silence. My mind overflows with things I want to pour out to the world and as sad as this may seem I have learned over the years that to truly express yourself you must be your own editor.
RSS MP3. Emma and I are BACK! I'm still finding where where put Hamster so in the mean time I grabbed a pet from our class. So we were cursed, its been decided. This week we talk about Wii, PS3 and Gears of Wars launch. Some Stuff we talk about. Out of Order Execution. AI Live Move.
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.
Its my own stupid fault, we got the recording in the can when I realised I had the mixer set to the wrong channel so it was recording a phantom mic. It was a great studio recording, probably our best but I duffed it. So you can send your flames to me.
Okay people so I've been clonking out pages of code, pages of wiki, pages of html and pages of comics. I've got to say I'm proud of my productivity at the moment. I've made a few more pages of the comic, not to mention some little apps. Been trying to construct these damn pop filters.
Oh well the podcast is on the proper server now. If you've been using the RSS feed or the iTunes link like good little techies you wouldn't notice anything. I have secured a small amount of space on another server in case this ever happens again.
, RSS , MP3 Download. First off I'm sorry about the delays, Odeo is broken and I don't know how to fix it so this is linked from an alternate host. I'm convinced the third podcast is cursed. Well Hamster and Emma couldn't make it but I battle it through I even drag in Swedish workers.
Okay so the insanity of the weekend. Okay I posted the cast on Friday, the posting of the cast didn't go smoothly, between editing errors and breaking the feed for about 20 minutes well... I need to practice.
I'm locked into what some would call a self destructive spiral, I call it life. No its not that bad its just I need to start looking after myself. I know I am not what most people would call fat but I freak out the moment I notice a belly and I've been freaking out a lot lately.
Happy Halloween! Come join us as we discuss Language, Ghost Dry Cleaning, and of course baby stacking. We've ditched the background music and thrown in a new bunch of audio treats. So strap down your favourite aquatic mammal, grab a match and get ready for it. We cover.
Up late editing audio... again! I swear next cast I'm going to electrify the floor. I don't know its just a long edit period. Longer than it should be but its mostly my fault for a poor set-up. I really need to revise how things are done for recording.
Oh well another podcast is on the reel. I'm currently editing lots of stuff out and fixing audio levels. We finished recording yesterday, and today I got my pop filters. I CANT BELIEVE THE DIFFERENCE! I'm just kicking myself we didn't have them for the last recording but oh well.
I've been having some trouble with the itunes feed. The new feed is over here I'm trying to get Apple to sort out the feed on iTunes because I dont have direct editing control of the old feed. In the meantime here is the New iTunes Feed and the plain feed .
Hi All! Okay so I've updated the comic section. I'm just sorting out some hosting for the comics. In the near future once I have more money for this project I want to host the comics on our server but in the meantime I'll be doing it on another server.
Call for legal copying of own CDs. A think-tank has called for archaic copyright laws to be rewritten to take account of new ways people listen to music, watch films and read books. I really want to stand up and shout about this. I think its great.
Welcome one and all to Game Programmers in Training. We have done it ladies and gentlemen. The site is up and the podcast feed works. Can you believe it. I know I didn't quite make my midnight launch window but hey nobodies perfect. So anyway its there.
Emma and Hamster came over yesterday after lectures to record. Oh my word was I freaking out. First the long wait to get the mics and mixers and million other things. Then the last minute rush for adapter jacks ect...
I get really caught up in coding away the adventure engine. I get hold of my cousin to have a chat. We arrange to have a long chat and watch the "History Boys". Late night, or rather early morning I call it a night. Friday. I wake up in a panic after realising I missed Math on Tuesday.
Well the adventure engine is comming along, I reckon by the end of the week it should be usable for say an alpha release. Of course bear in mind this is the engine not game content itself. Overall its going well. Still waiting on one of the people I need to relaunch Flammable Penguin studios.
I'm so busy. Okay I wont ramble on about social junk, LGBT meetings, university doctors, job hunting and so on. Let me bring everyone up to speed. Working on FP Adventure a graphical 'text' adventure engine, for University.
Bad bad girl, I know I should keep up to date with this but its hard getting into a routine when nothing else is in a routine. The job hunt continues, I need to step up my looking currently I'm not giving it enough force. I'm fighting with Vodacom, bah I mean Vodafone.
Okay so I've been completly silent. There is a reason, things have been up in the air. I only wanted to get back to this once I had some direction. Otherwise I would have broken my iron rule about no moppy blogging. Okay this is what happened. I got the NHS on my side.
Okay I know I've been crazy lately and very busy. However this post had to be made. Yesterday mere moments after Phillip remembering he left his phone at work the brakes locked up in a display of smoke and a odour of burning rubber. At this point I realised I forgot my phone.
Please Stop.
I spent the vast majority of yesterday studying for a programming course I am doing. I had little or no exposure to DirectX at University so I undoing a course on it. Its relatively easy because the concepts are all the same its just a different API.
Some people have being saying I'm being too bitchy recently. I refute this claims on two counts. There is NO thing such as too bitchy. I've been in a good mood lately, it will degrade if this trend continues./li> Ultimatly I am in a good mood.
Okay so I had a great relaxing weekend. I was alone in the flat and I spent my time watching Smallville, painting mintures and playing World of Warcraft. So basically I chilled and didn't do anything to further my career, intelligence, studies, spirtual goodness or any other positive karma.
I shall not explain it nor shall seek to expound the thoughts. Needless to say the end result is I scream and shout a bit then feel better. To be brief I had a lot of good news on Wednesday and I was highly productive but the whiplash effect was I forgot my meds and didn't ealise this.
I know I said I would avoid posts like this, deal with it this is for my mind not yours. I watch the sweet ether roll off my lips and caress the very things of reality.
Contry to popular belief I dont like sitting down. Its something i do while using a computer true, by choice however my machine is on a low lying desk. I like the floor, no cushions on the floor just a nice carpet.
Believe it or not people do use this as a method of solution to complex problems. Yes some people will instead of trying to grasp the problem and solve it rework the earlier findings into a dubious framework which ensures they remain "right".
Another line of my life. I miss when a line meant something completly different. You cant go back. I fee like I'm running the sequel / spinoff tv series now where they have toned it down for the public. Where have you gone robots of vowels. Anyone thinking this is post number 51 can NOT count.
So another day and another.... oh bugger read the title ... attacks the ranks of humanity. Truth be told life is good I've enrolled for an online post grad course to continue my education. If my promotion doesn't come through I'll be looking for a new job ith renewed vigor.
Okay so I'm attacking things at a furious pace. Not a problem at all. So anyway the main thing regarding training is I have signed up to an online programming course. This is to fill in a CV gap, not in training but in time.
Okay mention all the important stuff. First off the evil daemon of WOW addiction has taken me again and plunged my mind into a purple haze of pretty swirling pictures and numbers. I know I know, but I enjoy it and god damn it its better than crack.
Another day of infinite spectrum but still over technical usage of shading and light has been introduced to the current frame and spectrum of things as they stand.
Sorry about the lack luster posting I've been doing recently. While on Holiday I have a valid excuse but since getting back I don't. So anyway the last few days. Since my last post I had an attack of bronchitous again.
Oh well back at work and the world is flashing past in a dull blur of sanity. Back into the work and answering the phones of idiots. I must get some time to write about my lil adventures in South Africa. Yes the sanity of work has returned. Move along nothing to see here ;)
Okay so I've arrived. I think the chronological breakdown the best. So let it begin. Tuesday. Wake up at the crack of dawn and rush packing, I end up forgetting one or two things but nothing serious. However around 0800 I'm out of the door. I arrive at the airport.
Crazy Bon-bon chocolate covered Bitemes eating all the ones and zero dancing on the line. I think about what would happen if my tongue was cut out. I would talk in bloody spurts of silence. No acting, roleplaying, shouting, kissing would be handicapped....
I cant believe this world, I really cant at times. Sometimes people disgust me. I mean there are those rare times that I think wow, that's a shining example of kindness. Then I seem a case of humanity, human nature, or rather uncivilized idiocy.
Bleh pick me up off the floor and use my body as a mop with a spinal cord, my nerves are blown away feeling all from here to nowhere. I've been bitchy, emotional, and sick as a Cuban slave worker on a coke farm with unpaid vacation.
Oh well I'm slicing and mixing the pieces of fabric together and trying to get my mind back to a regular state. Sadly the case is that my sweet Serenity is going to be broken by the noise of my cousins this weekend Unless I can convince people of alternative options.
Its a fact never trust someone who collects money, someone who preaches religion, or someone who cant count past three. These people are not to be trusted with the time of day let alone anything of value. I did all my bit crossed by t dotted my I. I got assurances of dates and min/max time periods.
Ah yes the ability of maths to take the seeminly significant to its knees and raise up Nothing to a status of capilisation. I do enjoy maths despite my occasional lover's feuds with it. Most people really don't realize the depth and context of math.
Okay I admit it this week I've been lazy and self indulgent. My dicipline has flown out the window and my code is almost non-exsistent. The bleech is sucking up my time. Also adjusting to a new schedule as well. Okay its not the best of excuses. Truth be told I need some exercise... I know not.
Congratulations for Perseverence Its true life can be shitty and at times you work really hard for something. I mean I've had a lot of obstacles through this path and its been years of effort but finally I got given another important mile marker.
I haven't touch a line of code. My brain feels light and fresh. Like I've had a weight lifted off my shoulders. Don't get me wrong I love and enjoy coding but sometimes you need a break. Currently I wake up, rush to work, rush back home.
Okay what is it with focus. I need to take my mind and place it in a slingshot and launch it away at top speeds because currently it feels like a fuzzy cloud of cute hugs and kisses that's just going to sort of float around like a morning mist only to evaporate in the bright noon day sun.
Oh well another day has come in and I rocked up to closed glass doors, early, cold, and awaiting someone with keys. I must say I didn't expect to be in this position at this stage of my life. On a more positive note my flight date approaches with a speed.
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.
I'm being horribly distracted these last few days. The main reason I'm easy to distract is I feel a bit rudderless about the project. I know something is missing from the game, the most important thing. Fun, action excitement. I need to evaluate things again.
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.
I often wonder why saints dance on silver skies. I mean what is the band playing cause last I heard all the good music, art and culture was down under. I mean at the end of the day you need to remember we are not more alive except when we are killing or dying.
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.
I was fighting with the evil monkeys of maths, collisions, point to line distance and other wildlife. I do not wish to talk of it however it is in a mildly amusing corner of agony and pain in my brain.
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.
Voting Complete. The LD48 voting will continue for a while but my voting session is complete. I have definite favorites, and certain views on other projcts and comments however overall a good experience. My game didn't go down as well as I first thought but I learned a lot..
Oh well so I had yesterday off as part of the whole early shift mess. I spent a goodly time on the phone to my bank, the clinic, an agency, not to mention sending tons of emails and admin junk to various people. In all of this I never got time to go to the tax office and I chose not to vote.
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.
The voting as it stands at the moment, the top five are. 211 - Magnetism (attraction repulsion). 148 - Swarms. 111 - Infinite Levels (random/procedural generation). 102 - Evolution. 80 - Construction.
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.
LARP LARP LARP. Bear in mind I was crewing the morning, so I got flashes of the adventure. For the King. The king is sick, and not looking to live long but this starving cobbler couldn't care less. She has been stumbling around the forest starving with her companion the Weaver for four whole days.
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.
You ever wake up to that feeling of being misplaced. I mean I've woken up on and in more couches, floors, beds, cars and people than I would like to recall. My own bedroll as such has moved around and yet the feeling still comes to me at times.
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.
First and foremost I'm a geek. Yes I am I do a lot of crazy stuff but at the end of the day I'm a geek girl who goes fan girl at the worst possible times. As a tribute to my geekiness I have posted a brief history of my LARP character. Maga Ta Sheel.
I know that people will eventually stumble across this and I wish them the best. I try to put my thoughts on paper as best I can. I used to have have a live journal... why not continue to post there? Mostly technical reasons other reasons as well. I will not introduce or explain myself.