Life and Code

Yay for insomnia I guess, woke up early this morning and worked on my demo. The previous game projects have really given me a good idea of what I need to do to get to a running state. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I was able to start getting my basic framework in place. Today, I worked on base objects for cameras and lights as well as managers for both. Also built some more basic framework functions, like translation class.  Also started building my base game components like my base physics object. So far progress is looking good.

Interested in XNA here is the book I learned alot from:

Beginning XNA 3.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional

Code beginning, cameras, demo, game, lights, novice, physics, pro, xna

So once again, I know, I am going down the building a game demo route. This time using one of my all time favorite games as a target for emulation. I do have alot of stuff going on, with contract work, freelance work, Android dev and everything else. But I know that if you love doing something you should actually do it and I miss some good deep programming and problem solving.

Here is the obligatory tech details post:

Platform: Windows, XBOX 360 (future)
Graphics etc: XNA
Physics: JigLibX

The plan is to do this to work on this project when I need a break from everything else. I am already enjoying it because ‘research’ is fun, see pic below. My goal is to actually put this one out there as an XNA indie game. I promise I wont keep it locked away in my collection of fun stuff I have made for me to play around with. I am looking forward to playing this game myself and that is a good sign.

Research is fun!!

Code car, demo, game, jiglibx, project, xna

I loved Buzz Aldrin’s Race into space when I first played it several years ago. The things I wish I could change about that simulator are the things I am attempting to put into my own idea of a space race hot seat simulator. For example in BARIS, launches played the same videos over and over again, in a modern sim, there is no reason why these launches could not be dynamically simulated based on the current tech level. Even on a modest computer, using modern graphics techniques, it should be possible to create a compelling sim with dynamically generated and simulated mission launches. I am testing this concept with my Project First, I want to see how cool of a Space Race launch I can simulate with XNA.

I have started with a simple goal for now, model the crafts and locations to dynamically generate the Explorer I mission, not necessarily to real life spec. But to a decently realistic and good looking level of detail. To this end, I am working on modelling the Jupiter-C launch vehicle using correct dimensions weights etc. I will use this to create a pretty basic simulation in XNA and build on it adding stuff like the engine sounds I am also working on Here is a preview of some of the stuff I have coming

Audio:
The audio was created in Audacity using a high pressure cigarette lighter as the base sound, then I pretty much massaged it down a bit to get a nice roar. The start just uses reverb and amplitude changes to give the feeling of that initial surge at rocket startup. Pretty simple sounds to create so far. Kinda fun to be playing with audio again .
Engine Start
Engine Run

Images:

Jupiter-C RocketDyne Booster Tail Section

For fellow BARIS lovers, the game has been open-sourced and can be found here

Code 3d, BARIS, game, hot-seat, into, jupiter-c, moon, physics, programming, project, project first, race, rocket, simulation, space, xna

Well I have finally decided on the concept I will move forward with as the game I will develop. This decision has been a long time coming. I think the genre I have decided on is rather underused and the game will be fun above all else. The work required is not too bad either, I will disclose more after I have fleshed out the design documents. A page here is forthcoming as well.

Code concept, design, eureka, game

So I am all set up to write my excellent game (demo). I have come up with and shot down several of my own ideas. I think I have coder’s block. I know I have the ability to code this, however, I seem to be having problems designing. I think I need to just take some time off and unwind. The cold spell has actually given me a few ideas. We’ll see how it turns out I guess.

Code coder's block, demo, game, programming, suckage