HELLO!
One minute I'm writing about having my own website, the next a year has passed and I find a link to my old blog. Damn so much has happened in those 12 months that I don't know where to begin...
OK, lets start from where I left off. Adarakion Games is in a much better place than it was 12 months ago with me dabbling in Blitz and making a mess of my code. I eventually knuckled down and decided to put my C++ learning into practice. I recruited an AWESOME team and converted them to the way of Adarakion, and whaddya know - we only went and made a game! www.adarakion.com and follow the links to RoChain - be good to get your feedback.
In general, the feedback we have received about RoChain has been so positive we decided to try and monetise it in some way by making an iPhone app. We've really only just started out on this and we have a long path to follow, however we are hoping to get something "out there" by Christmas. RoChain lends itself REALLY well to the mobile platforms and with a few design/implementation tweaks here and there I think it will do really well.
So what of the other projects I talked about in the past? Well, Project Blast! is still very much in the offing, although the tech we are looking at playing with to bring it to you is still being considered, so no doubt there will be more on that next year.. Odds On has kinda fallen by the wayside a little. I still think in concept its a great idea for a game, but its more a labour of love for me than anything else. Its one of those titles Ive been working on for so many years (from my early Amiga years) that I feel one day it will get made, however its not a priority for me/us at the moment as we need to focus on the right areas to (hopefully) make this a success.
We are also fighting hard to work on these things for a living, and hopefully can divulge a little more on our progress over the coming months!
Hopefully it wont be a year before the next post!
Showing posts with label game development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label game development. Show all posts
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
www.ivegotmyownwebsitenow.com!!!!
Hello!
Well, where to begin. Whirlwind would be a good place to start - that's what my head feels like at the moment. Project Blast! is coming along nicely - starting to get some good back story in there too. Ive been working almost exclusively on the map editor which has actually come on in leaps and bounds. Just a few minor bugs to sort and it will be fully usable. I think need to look at adding more functionality for when we let the public get their hands on it. I know how much you guys like to break the toys we give you!
Also, I'm proud to announce that Adarakion Games now has its own website - www.adarakion.co.uk (or .com) - not much to see there at the moment, just a holding page, but we are adding functionality and updating quite regularly - so keep checking back for updates... Hopefully we will have something to look at in the next few days/weeks......
The team really feels like its cohesive too - we are all chipping in and working hard to get Project Blast! off the ground, the team will post a blog on the official website introducing themselves once the site is configured properly and set up etc. so another reason to keep checking back.
I guess all we lack at the moment as a team is an artist. But they are incredibly hard to come by (well, good ones are anyway) - and given that art is a concept I'm not familiar with, its something we will need to address in the near future... watch this space..
Well, where to begin. Whirlwind would be a good place to start - that's what my head feels like at the moment. Project Blast! is coming along nicely - starting to get some good back story in there too. Ive been working almost exclusively on the map editor which has actually come on in leaps and bounds. Just a few minor bugs to sort and it will be fully usable. I think need to look at adding more functionality for when we let the public get their hands on it. I know how much you guys like to break the toys we give you!
Also, I'm proud to announce that Adarakion Games now has its own website - www.adarakion.co.uk (or .com) - not much to see there at the moment, just a holding page, but we are adding functionality and updating quite regularly - so keep checking back for updates... Hopefully we will have something to look at in the next few days/weeks......
The team really feels like its cohesive too - we are all chipping in and working hard to get Project Blast! off the ground, the team will post a blog on the official website introducing themselves once the site is configured properly and set up etc. so another reason to keep checking back.
I guess all we lack at the moment as a team is an artist. But they are incredibly hard to come by (well, good ones are anyway) - and given that art is a concept I'm not familiar with, its something we will need to address in the near future... watch this space..
Monday, 24 August 2009
Back on Track!
Hi folks,
Well, after a lovely week in Sunny Bridlington (yes, it was sunny.. no, seriously, I can hardly believe it either!) I am back and raring to go. My laptop has been repaired by HP (new motherboard) so now nothing can stop me cracking on with project number 2 (codename Project Blast!).
Just trying to recruit a designer at the moment to flesh out some of my initial ideas, but the basic concept (to me at least) is awesome and offers a LOT of scope for future DLC, multi player tournaments, leagues etc. etc. so I am really stoked about the whole idea. Whoever thought that writing a concept document could be so exciting... yeah. you are right, I do need to get out more...
Anyway, I'm currently developing some of the tools we will be using to make the various levels (and hopefully make available to the player to make their own levels too) - need to spend some time getting this JUST right, its incredibly important.
Odds On fans, don't despair - that's still in development too - just taking a little bit of a back seat at the moment (no pun intended!).
Oh, and I managed to play a couple of new XBL Arcade games over the last few days - Trials HD and Shadow Complex.
Trials HD is in a word, awesome. Anyone remember Kickstart 1 & 2 on the C64? This game is very similar to that but 21st Centuryised!!! Mad OTT motorbiking on wild stunt tracks. Its very "just one more go" with some crazy achievements to be won - top top stuff - grab the trial version and make your own minds up but its well worth a download. Love the integration of the player leader boards too - it tracks your "friends" times etc. so you can see when you are beating them in real time - really cleverly done. Its definitely one Ill be going back to again and again...
Shadow Complex is also a great demonstration of style and game design. Played in 2d but with a 3d view it reminds me quite a bit of the Amiga game "Flashback". Its also very retro-styled in the way the game plays. The 2d / sort of 3d plane is a little confusing at first, but when it "clicks" it works really well! Plenty of hidden items to find etc. etc. I hear its quite a short game to "complete", but I will more than likely be going back and playing through it again once I have finished it to find all the other secret areas I missed. Again, grab the trial version on XBL Arcade and see for yourself - oh, just one point, don't be put off by the first 2 minutes of the game - it gets better. MUCH better :)
Right, that's enough from me.. More on Project Blast! later....
Well, after a lovely week in Sunny Bridlington (yes, it was sunny.. no, seriously, I can hardly believe it either!) I am back and raring to go. My laptop has been repaired by HP (new motherboard) so now nothing can stop me cracking on with project number 2 (codename Project Blast!).
Just trying to recruit a designer at the moment to flesh out some of my initial ideas, but the basic concept (to me at least) is awesome and offers a LOT of scope for future DLC, multi player tournaments, leagues etc. etc. so I am really stoked about the whole idea. Whoever thought that writing a concept document could be so exciting... yeah. you are right, I do need to get out more...
Anyway, I'm currently developing some of the tools we will be using to make the various levels (and hopefully make available to the player to make their own levels too) - need to spend some time getting this JUST right, its incredibly important.
Odds On fans, don't despair - that's still in development too - just taking a little bit of a back seat at the moment (no pun intended!).
Oh, and I managed to play a couple of new XBL Arcade games over the last few days - Trials HD and Shadow Complex.
Trials HD is in a word, awesome. Anyone remember Kickstart 1 & 2 on the C64? This game is very similar to that but 21st Centuryised!!! Mad OTT motorbiking on wild stunt tracks. Its very "just one more go" with some crazy achievements to be won - top top stuff - grab the trial version and make your own minds up but its well worth a download. Love the integration of the player leader boards too - it tracks your "friends" times etc. so you can see when you are beating them in real time - really cleverly done. Its definitely one Ill be going back to again and again...
Shadow Complex is also a great demonstration of style and game design. Played in 2d but with a 3d view it reminds me quite a bit of the Amiga game "Flashback". Its also very retro-styled in the way the game plays. The 2d / sort of 3d plane is a little confusing at first, but when it "clicks" it works really well! Plenty of hidden items to find etc. etc. I hear its quite a short game to "complete", but I will more than likely be going back and playing through it again once I have finished it to find all the other secret areas I missed. Again, grab the trial version on XBL Arcade and see for yourself - oh, just one point, don't be put off by the first 2 minutes of the game - it gets better. MUCH better :)
Right, that's enough from me.. More on Project Blast! later....
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Focus young Padawan!
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....?
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....?
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!
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)
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