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Blog Details for "Videogame Biscuit"
Videogame BiscuitVideogame BiscuitI'm an amateur game developer. I publish the progress of the games I'm working on, finished games, reviews of tools and books and anything game development related Articles
Change in comment policy
2008-06-05 19:25:00 In order to keep spam out of my comments as much as possible, here are a few changes to my policy; Visitors have to enter their name and email address before commenting; Comment s don’t appear until I approve them So if you post a comment, don’t worry if it doesn’t appear immediately. I get over 20 spam comments ... More About: Change , Policy
Sub Commander update 06-03
2008-06-03 21:48:00 Added another enemy ship to Sub Commander . This time it’s a mine layer. As the name implies, it drops mines. It’s very fast and hard to hit, but it takes only one hit to take him out. Here’s what it looks like: The mines it drops sink to a random depth and hover there for a ... More About: Update
Sub Commander update 05-30
2008-05-31 00:02:00 Finally some more progress on Sub Commander . Had to tackle a really nasty bug yesterday. Nine times out of ten everything worked fine, and one time out of ten it crashed without warning on startup. Very tricky to find, but of course it turned out to be something quite stupid. But anyway, here’s a new ... More About: Update
Configuration, part 2: mapping input keys
2008-05-28 21:07:00 In this tutorial I will explain how to remap input keys using an XML file and a configuration dialog box. First of all, here’s the config dialog. I assume you are familiar with the TGB GUI builder for this. Most of the action will take place in the listbox under “Keyboard input”, wich is a GuiTextListCtrl ... More About: Configuration , Part , Keys , Mapping , Torque
A short update about Wasabi Defense
2008-05-25 01:38:00 Yes, I’m still working on this game! A while ago, I decided to put Wasabi Defense on hold for a while because I felt it was turning into a crappy game and needed some serious redesigning. One of my main concerns was that the base you had to protect looked like absolute junk. That’s why ... More About: Update , Short
Configuration, part 1: XML files
2008-05-19 19:00:00 I finally got a system up and running for setting and storing configuration settings. It wasn’t easy, since many of the functions I had to use weren’t exactly very well documented. Everything works now, so here’s a tutorial on how I did it. I’m gonna start with XML files, since that’s what I use to ... More About: Configuration , Part , Files , Torque
Sub Commander update 05-14
2008-05-14 22:38:00 Some more work done on Sub Commander . The submarine attacks work perfectly. Basically, it’s an infinite attack wave. As soon as a sub is destroyed or exits the screen, another one appears in a few seconds. There are two types: one that fires two unguided torpedos and one that fires one guided torpedo. I have ... More About: Update
Sub Commander update 05-06
2008-05-06 21:29:00 I’ve got another screenshot! Work is done on the submarines. I’ve already talked about the first type. The second type fires guided torpedos. Don’t worry, they aren’t that hard to evade. After launch they turn towards the player and then keep moving in that direction, so they won’t follow you when you evade. Here’s what ... More About: Update , Commander
Sub Commander update 04-29
2008-04-29 22:05:00 Here’s some more news about Sub Commander . I have added the first enemy submarine. Here’s how it behaves. When attacking, it tries to move to the same depth as the player to fire its torpedos. When both player and enemy are at the same depth, the enemy will fire two unguided torpedos in rapid succession, ... More About: Update
A word about backups
2008-04-21 22:55:00 Imagine this: you turn on your computer, and it doesn’t start. It freezes, you get the dreaded BSOD, it goes in a reboot loop, or who knows what else. Chances are your harddrive is dead and all your data is lost. If I lost all my music, movies and text documents, that wouldn’t be the ... More About: Word , Backups
Sub Commander update 04-20
2008-04-20 16:04:00 Here’s another progress report on Sub Commander ! As you can see in this screenshot, I’ve been doing some work on the graphics. No more dummy sprites here, this is how the game is gonna look, except maybe the numbers and icons on the status display. They look ok, but I think it can be a ... More About: Update
Introducing: Sub Commander!
2008-04-14 19:33:00 So, Wasabi Defense is on hold for now. While I’m figuring out how I’m gonna rescue the project I’m gonna work on the next one, for wich I was already developing a prototype: Sub Commander ! As the name already says, it’s a submarine simulation. It’s based on an old C64 game named Seafox. You are ...
Sad news
2008-04-11 23:00:00 I wish it hadn’t come to this, but it did. I have to put Wasabi Defense on hold for a while. In one of my previous posts I already mentioned it wasn’t going as smoothly as I hoped, and things have only gotten worse. The graphics are crappy, the code is a mess and it’s ... More About: News
Wasabi Defense update 04-06
2008-04-06 21:07:00 Finally got some more work done on Wasabi Defense . I added another weapon and another base element. The weapon is a rapid fire cannon that shoots six round bursts, and the base element is supposed to be a fuel rod plant. Here’s what everything looks like: To be honest, I think I’m on my way to ... More About: Update
Problems with comments
2008-04-04 12:00:00 A visitor has notified me that posting comments doesn’t seem to work. At first I thought they were getting caught by the Akismet spam filter (wich does a great job, by the way), but this isn’t the case. I have tried posting comments myself and indeed, it doesn’t work. Not on new post and not on older posts that already had comments. I have no idea what is causing this. Since I don’t know much about PHP, MySQL or Wordpress, I’ll have to do some searching and experiment a bit, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll have to install Wordpress all over again, so there may be a few other glitches in the next few days. More About: Comments , Problems
Overcoming obstacles
2008-04-01 20:38:00 Grey Alien Games has a great article about overcoming game development obstacles. A very useful article, since this can be one of the most difficult tasks you will face. They can bring a project to a grinding stop or prevent you from even starting them. Here are some common problems, possible solutions and my opinion about them. 1. My day job takes up too much time Try to dedicate as much free time as possible to developing games. Turn off the tv, cut back on visiting pubs, … Not the biggest problem for me, except I can’t seem to drop my gaming addiction. Ah, well, you gotta play games if you wanna make them, right? Another very radical option is quitting your day job. This is definitely the most controversial topic when it comes to independent game development, and not for the faint of heart. When you quit your job to become a full time game developer, the choice is simple: you either make games and sell them, or you go broke and die. How’s that for a motivation?...
Game design principles, practice and techniques
2008-03-27 22:49:00 I ordered this book a while ago and it arrived in the mail last tuesday. It’s not a technical book but, as the title says, about game design. The book covers three main topics: design theory, design process and design production. The design theory chapter is for the most part an overview of game genres, both ... More About: Design , Books , Practice , Game , Game Design
Wasabi Defense update 03-24
2008-03-24 13:06:00 As promised in the previous post, here’s the new enemy surrounded by shield spheres! The spheres take the initial blows when you start blasting away at the thing, so you have to take at least a few of them out before you can hit the main enemy. More About: Defense , Update , Wasabi
Wasabi Defense update 03-17
2008-03-17 17:25:00 Got plenty of time to work on Wasabi Defense today, so here I am again with another update and a screenshot! I have given the player a new weapon and created a new enemy. Here’s what they look like: First of all, the player’s new weapon. It’s another rocket launcher, but this one holds 14 rockets ... More About: Update
Nine step recipe for good independent game design
2008-03-14 22:35:00 The following series of articles by Damon Brown is a must-read for every game developer, especially if you work alone, like me. The hardest part of developing a game is often not the programming, but the design itself. Coming up with good ideas is damned hard (not to mention thinking of a name!). And often, ... More About: Design , Recipe , Game , Independent , Good
Wasabi Defense update 03-13
2008-03-13 22:27:00 The human outpost at Omega Wasabi has grown once more! A new unit has been added: the Kickassium refinery. What does it do? Well… it refines Kickassium, the fuel for the tachyon pulsar engine. Here’s what it looks like: I had to adjust the height at wich the player hovers a bit, because otherwise he would ... More About: Defense , Update
Diggnation Live in Amsterdam!
2008-03-09 22:05:00 This is not game development related at all, but it is so incredibly cool that I just have to talk about it. I religiously watch Diggnation every week. It’s a video podcast in wich Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht talk about the most popular stories that appeared on the social news website Digg that week. ... More About: Live , Amsterdam
Wasabi Defense update 03-09
2008-03-09 10:41:00 I have added a new bomber to the enemy’s arsenal. This one flies slowly over the base and drops three bombs. It’s quite heavily armored (takes five shots to kill it), so missiles or the plasma turret are the best way to deal with it. Other stuff I have worked on are the gamepad controls and ... More About: Defense , Update , Wasabi
Wasabi Defense update 03-02
2008-03-02 21:57:00 I’ve got another Wasabi Defense screenshot! I have added another unit to the base. It’s a static defense turret that fires plasma balls. Here’s what it looks like in action: It sure took me a while to get this screenshot right! The cannon is incredibly powerful. It instantly kills everything it hits, and it’s armor piercing! After a hit, it just keeps moving, making it possible to score multiple hits with one projectile. Of course, you can’t fire a weapon like this like a machine gun. The turret is single shot and takes a while to reload. I have also added crosshairs to aim properly. More About: Update
Nine Paths to Indie Game Greatness
2008-02-27 23:19:00 Gamasutra has an interesting article full of tips about making succesfull indie games. It contains nine vital tips. Let’s take closer look at them. 1. Efficiency in design Gamasutra describes this as “Design around getting the most bang for your buck”. A very obvious option here is multiplayer. A multiplayer FPS doesn’t need gigantic maps, a complex ... More About: Indie , Game , Game Design
Wasabi Defense update 02-24
2008-02-24 21:24:00 I finished another enemy in Wasabi Defense , and completed the attack waves for this level. Here’s a little peek: The thing that’s about to be hit by a blue plasma ball is the new enemy. It flies around in a random pattern and bombards the enemy with fireballs. I also reused the bomber from the previous ... More About: Update
Indie game developer survival guide
2008-02-22 22:54:00 I ordered this book a week ago and a few days ago it arrived in the mail. It had heard about it a lot and read some very positive reviews about it, and many developers mentioned it on forums. Seems like it’s a very popular book. After flipping through it a bit and reading a ... More About: Books , Developer , Indie , Guide , Game
Wasabi Defense update 02-16
2008-02-16 22:23:00 Okay, here’s another Wasabi Defense screenshot! I have added another enemy. Here’s how it behaves. It comes flying in horizontally from either the left or the right, takes a dive and fires a volley of green fireballs, pulls up again and flies away. In this screenshot it has fired and is preparing to fly away. Immediately ... More About: Update
Blender hotkey map
2008-02-12 21:00:00 Okay, so I decided to explore Blender again. Since POV-Ray and Moray don’t work as they should on Vista I need a replacement, and preferably a free one. I had tried Blender before, and while it’s incredibly powerful, it’s also difficult as hell. Dev.Mag, a South African game development magazine, has an excellent series of ... More About: Websites , Hotkey
Lots and lots of Inkscape tutorials
More articles from this author:2008-02-11 21:00:00 For creating vector drawings, Inkscape is an excellent, free application. The Inkscape tutorials blog hosts lots of excellent tutorials on how to draw and create all sorts of great effects. It has tutorials about text effects, drawing shapes and 3D objects. And if you have a tutorial you would like to share with the rest of the world, you can submit it! Another good collection of tutorials can be found at Screencasters, wich has video tutorials. These are really great! Currently, there are 47 tutorials, starting with some very basic stuff and moving on to more advanced techniques. The guy who created them explains everything he does while he’s doing it, making it very easy to follow. And finally, there’s the Inkscape Forum, where you can show off your work, post your own tutorials or ask for help if you’re stuck. It’s quite active, so you should have no problem finding help there. The Inkscape tutorials blog Screencasters Inkscape Forum More About: Tutorials 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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