Morning Internet peeps.
Focus.
That's a word I struggle with. I do actually drive one, but seemingly have very little in real life!!
I'm talking about bug fixing here, and my seeming lack of ability to focus on something till I have solved the problem rather than thinking "ooh, lets add this feature". I guess I'm all about the glory eh?!
So, I have managed to implement my new horse sprites (just waiting for the full frame set from my Artist :) ) and have also managed to (somehow) solve my Jockey name bug. However I then got distracted and tried to implement some new graphical touches :)
Ive also had some ideas for new projects floating around my head for a while now which is just typical for me - I start something in earnest and then get distracted by something new! However I am putting them to the back of my mind till I have at least a working Alpha of Odds On...
So todays task is to try and implement more of my database to include horse and jockey form, going etc. The ultimate goal here to produce Odds that reflect how good the horse is performing, rather than by random number assignment. I also want to implement a "skills" system in so much as the horses will have skills such as stamina, pace, acceleration etc. which all affect race performance....
... so still plenty to do, just need to stop thinking about my other projects... still, dabbling in starting one wont hurt will it....?
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Monday, 27 July 2009
Whirlwind Weekend
Sorry for the lack of update folks. My weekend has been a whirlwind of best mans duties, BBQs and sleep (but not much of the latter it feels!!!) - my promised new screenshot images have not transpired as a result.. but they will be here this week I promise.
So Ill be picking up the reigns (pun intended) on Odds on again today - got my artists (you know who you are, and you are VERY MUCH appreciated) working on some new stuff to add in which is coming along quite nicely (gosh, this might actually LOOK the biz too :) ).
Got them nasty bugs to squish at some point too - ill try and nail that today, as well as further developing my horse/jockey database.... busy busy!
Noticed I had a mention on the Gamespot UK Podcast too this last week (listen to podcast released on 23rd July!) which was great - just hope it brings some nice new followers to my blog :)
So this weeks plan of action is essentially:
1) Get new screenies on the blog (done!)
2) Squish the bugs
3) Implement new graphical touches
4) Continue work on database.
It never ends this, I'm still mindful I'm working on just one part of what will ultimately be a much larger game project too, but also hopeful that this is very much the "meat" of the game too - so once Ive cracked this to my satisfaction, the rest should relatively easily fall into place..
Dont forget to click the pics to see them properly :)
This is a pic of the new track gfx with simply "stretched" larger horse sprites - I do have new horse sprites to implement but this gives a good idea of scale:
Here is the first pic of the race preview screen. A lot of stuff still needs to be inserted here (such as going, jockey info etc. etc. but it allows you at the moment to see the odds and place bets etc. One of the things I need to do is change the blue boxes to something more aesthetically pleasing as you cant see the image behind them at the moment!
So Ill be picking up the reigns (pun intended) on Odds on again today - got my artists (you know who you are, and you are VERY MUCH appreciated) working on some new stuff to add in which is coming along quite nicely (gosh, this might actually LOOK the biz too :) ).
Got them nasty bugs to squish at some point too - ill try and nail that today, as well as further developing my horse/jockey database.... busy busy!
Noticed I had a mention on the Gamespot UK Podcast too this last week (listen to podcast released on 23rd July!) which was great - just hope it brings some nice new followers to my blog :)
So this weeks plan of action is essentially:
1) Get new screenies on the blog (done!)
2) Squish the bugs
3) Implement new graphical touches
4) Continue work on database.
It never ends this, I'm still mindful I'm working on just one part of what will ultimately be a much larger game project too, but also hopeful that this is very much the "meat" of the game too - so once Ive cracked this to my satisfaction, the rest should relatively easily fall into place..
Dont forget to click the pics to see them properly :)
This is a pic of the new track gfx with simply "stretched" larger horse sprites - I do have new horse sprites to implement but this gives a good idea of scale:
Here is the first pic of the race preview screen. A lot of stuff still needs to be inserted here (such as going, jockey info etc. etc. but it allows you at the moment to see the odds and place bets etc. One of the things I need to do is change the blue boxes to something more aesthetically pleasing as you cant see the image behind them at the moment!
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Coding is bad for your health.. :)
Been progressing more with Odds On today, working on the game database and integrating that into the game so that the horses picked to run aren't random but are from a pre-built table of data, I have also coded in Jockey names to accompany the horses and will add in such as form, preferred condition, owner, trainer, wins etc. over time. Its become apparent to me that I should have nailed this design element first (and here's me thinking I can design and code!). Integrating stats etc. once you have started coding is a complete, utter and total nightmare and don't even get me started on bugs...
Bugs bugs bugs. Damnit. Some of them are stupid coder errors, some are a little more subtle than that, but the game code is growing by the day and its becoming increasingly hard to follow my progress! Daft things like the same horse being picked twice for a race (which for some reason best known to itself, the game seems to do EVERY race!), using the wrong variables in places etc. gah. calm down dear.. its only a commercial.. thanks Michael, feel better now.
Anyway, progress is slow at the moment - I really need to tear the whole game apart and rebuild it, but I shall persevere, I will crack it. I think for me, tedium sets in quite quickly when doing the mundane, boring code stuff. I like to see my work in action, love to see a new animation I have added or a clever little bit of code playing out :)
Anyway, Ill post some more screenies either later today or tomorrow, showing the revised race track, horses etc.
It IS very cathartic posting this blog - lets me get my frustrations out in the open and also lets me think things through from different angles...
... today bugs with jockey names, tomorrow THE WORLD.. !!!
Bugs bugs bugs. Damnit. Some of them are stupid coder errors, some are a little more subtle than that, but the game code is growing by the day and its becoming increasingly hard to follow my progress! Daft things like the same horse being picked twice for a race (which for some reason best known to itself, the game seems to do EVERY race!), using the wrong variables in places etc. gah. calm down dear.. its only a commercial.. thanks Michael, feel better now.
Anyway, progress is slow at the moment - I really need to tear the whole game apart and rebuild it, but I shall persevere, I will crack it. I think for me, tedium sets in quite quickly when doing the mundane, boring code stuff. I like to see my work in action, love to see a new animation I have added or a clever little bit of code playing out :)
Anyway, Ill post some more screenies either later today or tomorrow, showing the revised race track, horses etc.
It IS very cathartic posting this blog - lets me get my frustrations out in the open and also lets me think things through from different angles...
... today bugs with jockey names, tomorrow THE WORLD.. !!!
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Odds On progress
So, I have been spending some time thinking about where I go with Odds on.
Ive got a fully working (well, kind of!) 2d race engine and the results of which are affected by the odds of the horse, however there are some elements of the design in not entirely happy with, and others I'm having to think long and hard about to find the best solution.
So, my first design issue is how do you track (no pun intended) the horse you have bet on (or horseS for that matter). Initially I had 50x50 pixel animated sprites which looked WAY too small on the track, but with them being so small I had space to "trail" the names of the horses behind them so you could see which horse was which.. yes, they all had their own individual colours but at 50x50 it was tough going to see the colours as they were so tiny.. So my first decision was to up the resolution of the sprites to 100x100 - much better. Can see the colours no problem at all - though the new size sprites look a little jaggedy edged (but can change that simply enough later on), however now the trailing names are very much lost..
Ive toyed with the idea of doing a "live" leader board, which updates every frame, need to work on the code for this, but I guess this might work... if a little slow doing a nested for-next loop sort.. I already show the bets made on the screen in the bottom left.. so maybe i could make the bets animate in some way if its likely to pay off? But then you wouldn't need to look at the actual race.. I guess another way to do this would be to keep the horses names in their respective "lane" - so its simple to see which horse is which. But if I did this and wanted to change the way the horses run (i.e. all congregating to the middle after the first 100 yards) then it wouldn't work.....decisions decisions...
Also tried to make the track get muddier as the horses race across it. I can make this work, but its slow, basically because I'm grabbing an image of the entire track every frame, which takes its toll on the processor.. so i need to address this too.
Once Ive sorted all this out I can progress to sorting other data which may affect a horses performance such as going, form, jockey, etc. etc. This SHOULD be relatively easily achieved by use of a database of horses and jockeys...
.. lots to do and not enough time to do it....
Oh yeah, and I got cut up by some F*$&*£ at least 4 times on my way to work this morning. Ah feel better for that!!!
Pic of the race with small horses
Pic of the racetrack (old version)
Ive got a fully working (well, kind of!) 2d race engine and the results of which are affected by the odds of the horse, however there are some elements of the design in not entirely happy with, and others I'm having to think long and hard about to find the best solution.
So, my first design issue is how do you track (no pun intended) the horse you have bet on (or horseS for that matter). Initially I had 50x50 pixel animated sprites which looked WAY too small on the track, but with them being so small I had space to "trail" the names of the horses behind them so you could see which horse was which.. yes, they all had their own individual colours but at 50x50 it was tough going to see the colours as they were so tiny.. So my first decision was to up the resolution of the sprites to 100x100 - much better. Can see the colours no problem at all - though the new size sprites look a little jaggedy edged (but can change that simply enough later on), however now the trailing names are very much lost..
Ive toyed with the idea of doing a "live" leader board, which updates every frame, need to work on the code for this, but I guess this might work... if a little slow doing a nested for-next loop sort.. I already show the bets made on the screen in the bottom left.. so maybe i could make the bets animate in some way if its likely to pay off? But then you wouldn't need to look at the actual race.. I guess another way to do this would be to keep the horses names in their respective "lane" - so its simple to see which horse is which. But if I did this and wanted to change the way the horses run (i.e. all congregating to the middle after the first 100 yards) then it wouldn't work.....decisions decisions...
Also tried to make the track get muddier as the horses race across it. I can make this work, but its slow, basically because I'm grabbing an image of the entire track every frame, which takes its toll on the processor.. so i need to address this too.
Once Ive sorted all this out I can progress to sorting other data which may affect a horses performance such as going, form, jockey, etc. etc. This SHOULD be relatively easily achieved by use of a database of horses and jockeys...
.. lots to do and not enough time to do it....
Oh yeah, and I got cut up by some F*$&*£ at least 4 times on my way to work this morning. Ah feel better for that!!!
Pic of the race with small horses
Pic of the racetrack (old version)
Monday, 20 July 2009
First Blog!
Hello Inter-world!
So, after thinking about doing this for a LONG time, I finally decided to give it a bash. Need somewhere to talk about what I am doing, and how I am doing it and see if I get much interest. Mind you, interest rates are at a record low, so I'm not holding my breath.... And yes, that's just a sample of the carnival like atmosphere I'm known for creating.. *cough* moving on.
Anyway, the blog is INTENDED to be about my progress in developing various games for PC. But my concentration span is usually awful, so if I wander off topic then I'm sorry... nice weather today isn't it?... My wanders will probably be about how some eejut cut me up on the way to work (expect that one a LOT!) or about the latest game I'm playing - deconstructing its design and development in minute detail, overanalyising the physics engine, contemplating the network code on the multi-player side with words like "its rubbish" or "wow"!!
Ok, so a bit about me. I'm a bit old. Well, I'm not, but I feel it. 32 this year. 32. What happened?! The last thing I remember was playing Summer Camp on my C64.. now I'm here, married with a kid. Heh. Anyway, I'm 31 at the minute (that sounds much better) and married with one little boy who will be 3 in October. Ive been coding (poorly) for 20+ years. I started on my C64 with my Mum and Dad. We used to buy those big books of code, remember them? Line by line we would enter the code into the Commodore, they'd tell me it was to get me "into" computers - I think it was to save on the heating.. I mean, you've felt a C64 powerpack after its been on for a while, haven't you? .. anyway, line by line we would enter this code and then... the big moment.... "RUN". syntax error in 10. hmmm. that's the first line and its exactly how it shows in the book.... I think it was my Dad who first suggested after reading the "introduction" section of the book that maybe we should have pressed RETURNafter each line, rather than SPACE through to the next line. Needless to say, the book ended up in the bin.
But I never gave up. I bought lots of BASIC programming books with my pocket money, and taught myself (very poorly) BASIC with my first game being finished when I was about 11/12. It was called "King Louis" and basically saw you amassing an army to invade France. Man, it was RTS in 1989, but text based... and a bit naff.. but it worked! The game was saved to tape so that it would stand the test of time... till I left it in the window sill.. and it melted... but still, i was inspired!
My C64 bit the dust in favour of an Amiga 600.. oh how i loved that numpadless little beauty. I used to watch my friend on his Amiga 500 playing Interceptor and thought that game was the dogs danglies.. woh, look at that - you can actually SEE the plane whilst its flying though exterior views.. BRILLIANT. Must get me that game.. oh.. right.. i see... you need a numpad to see those views.. and in fairness, without it, its a bit of a crap game isn't it..
So, during my work experience one summer I worked at a local computer games shop - loved it, and it was there I discovered AMOS (Amiga.. erm.. something something system) - but it was a programming language for the Amiga! I snapped up a copy and then must've filled about 100 discs with part finished projects, game ideas, and junk. It was here that my current project idea was born - but more on that later. Ahh, how I relish the days of Deluxe Paint 3 (nothing better out there today IMHO)...
So, after my Amiga, we went through the "first serious girlfriend" years, which meant in essence much less gaming than I had been used to. It was a tough time, and needless to say, it didn't work out.. My life was too full to deal with both at once. So I moved out and got me a killer PC. :) worst thing about this was that I left my Amiga with literally 100's of games at my ex's mother in laws house (which happened to be a pub) and I never saw them again... all those projects.. lost forever.. stop it now, you'll make me cry.
It was a few years after that I discovered Blitz Basic, and then Blitz 3d (which, along with C++ is what I use at the moment). More recently I also signed up for the Train2Game game developers course which I'm thoroughly enjoying, but I'm sure there will be more on my blog about that as the weeks progress...
So.. my current project(s). Got 2 on the go at the moment (and a myriad of ideas in my head for others):
Odds On - this project was spawned (hey, inadvertent game slang usage!) during my AMOS years - basically its a horse racing/management game where you can pretty much do what you like - be it breeding champions, just betting on races, run a stable etc. etc. the choices are endless (well, not at the minute, but that's the plan!). Early in development with the "race" on a straight track just about working at the mo :)
PC Power - anyone remember Gravity Power on the Amiga? now THAT was a classy game - SO simple but amazingly addictive. VERY early in development at the mo - got a couple of maps and a couple of ships that fly around it quite well... Ideally it would be GREAT if I could get this on WiiWare or PSN/XBL but that's very much in the future.
So that's me really. This blog is getting quite long already so Ill finish the intro one here - more to follow. Hope you enjoy reading it - let me have any thoughts etc.
Cheers
gnipper
So, after thinking about doing this for a LONG time, I finally decided to give it a bash. Need somewhere to talk about what I am doing, and how I am doing it and see if I get much interest. Mind you, interest rates are at a record low, so I'm not holding my breath.... And yes, that's just a sample of the carnival like atmosphere I'm known for creating.. *cough* moving on.
Anyway, the blog is INTENDED to be about my progress in developing various games for PC. But my concentration span is usually awful, so if I wander off topic then I'm sorry... nice weather today isn't it?... My wanders will probably be about how some eejut cut me up on the way to work (expect that one a LOT!) or about the latest game I'm playing - deconstructing its design and development in minute detail, overanalyising the physics engine, contemplating the network code on the multi-player side with words like "its rubbish" or "wow"!!
Ok, so a bit about me. I'm a bit old. Well, I'm not, but I feel it. 32 this year. 32. What happened?! The last thing I remember was playing Summer Camp on my C64.. now I'm here, married with a kid. Heh. Anyway, I'm 31 at the minute (that sounds much better) and married with one little boy who will be 3 in October. Ive been coding (poorly) for 20+ years. I started on my C64 with my Mum and Dad. We used to buy those big books of code, remember them? Line by line we would enter the code into the Commodore, they'd tell me it was to get me "into" computers - I think it was to save on the heating.. I mean, you've felt a C64 powerpack after its been on for a while, haven't you? .. anyway, line by line we would enter this code and then... the big moment.... "RUN". syntax error in 10. hmmm. that's the first line and its exactly how it shows in the book.... I think it was my Dad who first suggested after reading the "introduction" section of the book that maybe we should have pressed RETURN
But I never gave up. I bought lots of BASIC programming books with my pocket money, and taught myself (very poorly) BASIC with my first game being finished when I was about 11/12. It was called "King Louis" and basically saw you amassing an army to invade France. Man, it was RTS in 1989, but text based... and a bit naff.. but it worked! The game was saved to tape so that it would stand the test of time... till I left it in the window sill.. and it melted... but still, i was inspired!
My C64 bit the dust in favour of an Amiga 600.. oh how i loved that numpadless little beauty. I used to watch my friend on his Amiga 500 playing Interceptor and thought that game was the dogs danglies.. woh, look at that - you can actually SEE the plane whilst its flying though exterior views.. BRILLIANT. Must get me that game.. oh.. right.. i see... you need a numpad to see those views.. and in fairness, without it, its a bit of a crap game isn't it..
So, during my work experience one summer I worked at a local computer games shop - loved it, and it was there I discovered AMOS (Amiga.. erm.. something something system) - but it was a programming language for the Amiga! I snapped up a copy and then must've filled about 100 discs with part finished projects, game ideas, and junk. It was here that my current project idea was born - but more on that later. Ahh, how I relish the days of Deluxe Paint 3 (nothing better out there today IMHO)...
So, after my Amiga, we went through the "first serious girlfriend" years, which meant in essence much less gaming than I had been used to. It was a tough time, and needless to say, it didn't work out.. My life was too full to deal with both at once. So I moved out and got me a killer PC. :) worst thing about this was that I left my Amiga with literally 100's of games at my ex's mother in laws house (which happened to be a pub) and I never saw them again... all those projects.. lost forever.. stop it now, you'll make me cry.
It was a few years after that I discovered Blitz Basic, and then Blitz 3d (which, along with C++ is what I use at the moment). More recently I also signed up for the Train2Game game developers course which I'm thoroughly enjoying, but I'm sure there will be more on my blog about that as the weeks progress...
So.. my current project(s). Got 2 on the go at the moment (and a myriad of ideas in my head for others):
Odds On - this project was spawned (hey, inadvertent game slang usage!) during my AMOS years - basically its a horse racing/management game where you can pretty much do what you like - be it breeding champions, just betting on races, run a stable etc. etc. the choices are endless (well, not at the minute, but that's the plan!). Early in development with the "race" on a straight track just about working at the mo :)
PC Power - anyone remember Gravity Power on the Amiga? now THAT was a classy game - SO simple but amazingly addictive. VERY early in development at the mo - got a couple of maps and a couple of ships that fly around it quite well... Ideally it would be GREAT if I could get this on WiiWare or PSN/XBL but that's very much in the future.
So that's me really. This blog is getting quite long already so Ill finish the intro one here - more to follow. Hope you enjoy reading it - let me have any thoughts etc.
Cheers
gnipper
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