Entries Tagged 'Technology' ↓

I’m both impressed and dismayed by the large amount of work going into the Kinect at the moment.

Impressed because it seems nearly every subject has a representative application for the device.
Dismayed because most of them are rubbish (read: not using the Kinect to it’s full potential).

Using the point cloud data to make things in Minecraft? Fun, but ultimately trivial.
Using the skeletal approximation as some kind of analogue gesturing device. Neat…but is it really any better than using a Wii remote’s gyros for your waggling? (Something that was all the rage 1-2 years ago).
Using all of the above but resulting in things that don’t really require 3D. Wow all these EyeToy-esque games are great. If only we hadn’t had them over 7 years ago.

Maybe we’ll start seeing some more interesting stuff soon (there’s certainly a tonne of possibilities). Just please, let the waggling stop.

Whilst working on one of my projects this year for uni I was looking for some code to draw a cylinder between two points (using OpenGL). There were a couple of solutions out there, but they weren’t that great.

I couldn’t that worked reliably, without lots of different if statements trying to catch different cases. Anyway, after a bit of thought I knocked this one out (it’s actually a lot simpler than you think…which is probably why people haven’t bothered to post it).

Anyway…enjoy some pseudo code:

Vector3D a, b; (the two points you want to draw between)

// This is the default direction for the cylinders to face in OpenGL
Vector3D z = Vector3D(0,0,1);        
// Get diff between two points you want cylinder along
Vector3D p = (a - b);                              
// Get CROSS product (the axis of rotation)
Vector3D t = CROSS_PRODUCT (z , p); 

// Get angle. LENGTH is magnitude of the vector
double angle = 180 / PI * acos ((DOT_PRODUCT(z, p) / p.LENGTH());

glTranslated(b.x,b.y,b.z);
glRotated(angle,t.x,t.y,t.z);

gluQuadricOrientation(YourQuadric,GLU_OUTSIDE);
gluCylinder(YourQuadric, RADIUS, RADIUS, p.LENGTH(), SEGS1, SEGS2);

Hope that helps someone out there.

Designing difficult levels is…well…difficult.

Giving the illusion of choice (making it harder to pick the correct decision) without making the choice actually viable is a definite skill.

At the moment it’s taking me about 1 hour to produce 4/5 difficulty levels. I’m almost tempted to create a tool that will generate them for me. I prefer the hand sculpted approach because it’s more entertaining for me (creativity rather than algorithms), and generates more interesting levels (hopefully).

I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it soon, but creating an awkward level that has a really simple solution is very irritating.

Just spent £1.79 on resources for the next game. That’s two sales! Let’s hope I can get that many.

I now have the final name as well. No more terrible, terrible project name! Let the branding begin!!

It’s been a bit quiet here recently as it pertains to the latest Android development news. Well…major milestone!!

The whole of the game engine is now in place. What’s left to do? Well, luckily. Nothing too complicated, so it should be plain sailing from here. I can foresee a litle bit of arguing with the Android libraries, but on the whole, nothing too taxing.

In actuality, the biggest job right now is the assets: levels, art, sound. The future development is going to go something like:

Levels – Implement rest of level system, and a chunk of levels.

Art & Sound – Get some release candidate artwork implemented into the game.

Testing – Make sure things make sense, that the tutorials are okay and that the UI makes sense. Various sanity checks.

More Levels – Add more levels to the game

Pollish – Finalise art, sound and UI, Finish up all code

Testing – Final checks to make sure it’s absolutely fine to release.

Develop demo

RELEASE

To be honest I have no idea which of those is going to take the most time. I’m hoping for a November release; but we’ll just have to see. :/

Open Source is, in many ways, a wonderful thing.

But without a financial imperative or any kind of decent organisation you run the risk of slightly shabby work.

Android provides all the modern conventions with none of the foundation work. It’s like sticking a ABS and powersteering to a horse and cart. In many ways I feel that my old phone (Sony Ericsson P900) is a better phone. Scratch that: the P900 is definitely a better PHONE. However, the Android is a better: gadget, toy and accessory.

Call quality, interface and build quality are far worse on the Milestone (Droid) than on the predecessor. That said, the App store and internet functionality are vastly improved. I’m just shocked that after 7/8 years, things haven’t really progressed that far.

In and of itself this is bad, but it’s encouraging bad software on the App store. I was doing some research on a game I’m considering doing in the future, and decided to download a chunk of 3/4 star games. They all controlled like garbage, were unintuitive, with bad sound design.

Whilst Keepy Up is no gem (in fact, it’s garbage too…) but what it DOES do, I’d like to think it does well (bounce a football). We’re talking 3/4 star games here.

On the android, people expect things to be free. What you’re getting in exchange are these hobby-craft experiences, that with a bit more polish would be worth something.

If the Apple AppStore is going to M&S to buy a jumper, Android is getting a handmade one from your gran at Christmas, that doesn’t really fit.

I’m currently stuck iterating over the puzzle interface, making sure it feels right.

It’s a pain, as there are so many combinations of interactions that could break the system. I’ve had two release candidates so far: but both behaved a little odd under different circumstances.

This current version should allow a lot of fine grain control on the way everything should work.

It’s incredibly annoying as it’s really slowing things down, but it’s one of the three pillars of the game; so it’s really important to get it right.

Having now released Keepy Up, and armed with some knowledge of Android development: I have now begun working on my next game for the platform.

This one I intend to release as a paid app. Considering we’re talking about Android here, the issue of piracy is immediately brought up.

Some facts:

1) Software worth stealing will eventually be stolen.

2) DRM hurts your legitimate purchasers more than the thieves.

3) Just because someone has stolen your software, doesn’t mean they would have bought it, if they couldn’t steal it.

In the end, there is only so much you can do to prevent theft of your property, before you start having negative returns on the time spent.

I would hope that people would want to pay for something if it was worth paying for.

Sadly, the version of Keepy Up I released onto the android market place had an Android OS version restriction on it higher than it needed to be.

I hope to have now rectified the problem, and improved the gameplay to boot!

(Get it…boot?)

Anyway, enjoy this minor update before the next big release!

(Also. 2707 as the high score!! Impressive!)

Keepy Up has been released!!

Ridiculously, people have already been playing it…and wracking up some seriously impressive scores!! 240!

Keepy Up was really just a way for me to get used to the Android system, and to get some resources. Now my next game will actually be a game…with levels…and…everything!

I’m glad to have it off my chest now. Would like to have had some advertising on it, but I just couldn’t get it working (not even the sample code worked??).

Moving on. Bigger and better things… WHOOOOO

PS: Check out the Keepy Up page here.