Big Game Project #3 – Game feature challenge focus

When creating features for a game, one should always consider the aesthetic goal of the game. However sometimes a features need to be deliberately designed so that they do not pose a challenge to the player. Some features just need to be easy to use.
Me and a group of six other people presented a game at the Gotland Game Conference 2015, Tamarrion, a hardcore action role playing game. During development of this game we designed features such as our player skill/spell system. This […]

Big Game Project #2 – Using game development engines vs coding from scratch

During our game project we used the Unity game development engine and it was a good choice of engine because of it having many built in features. If you are unfamiliar with Unity, it has an asset store where game developers can upload assets in order to help others by sharing features and sometimes make money from it, having the assets cost a fee. Another fact that made Unity a good choice for our development team is that the engine has […]

Tamarrion – Learning game engine functionality (Unity 4.6 Graphical User Interface)

In the current game project that I’m involved with I am constructing menus and other Graphical User Interface (GUI) using Unity version 5.0.
In this post I will describe my initial process of learning the User Interface (UI). I will suggest adjustments to my process since I do not believe that it was efficient.
I started out by trying to find directions on how to create GUI-elements in code by searching the web. I found help and created healthbars.
When showing the healthbar code to my fellow […]

Weekly programming – Client positions in fast paced networked games (v50)

Me and my current studygroup have designed a networking skeleton over the past week for our multiplayer space shooter project. We had already decided on using a server-client network model. After discussing how to solve the networking without causing input lag and with a good structure we started working on it.
We chose to split the networking code into a “low end”-part that recieves and sends packets, a “message converter”-part that translates packets into our own message class, and a “message handler”-part that sorts and delivers messages […]

Weekly programming – Client positions in fast paced networked games (v50)

Me and my current studygroup have designed a networking skeleton over the past week for our multiplayer space shooter project. We had already decided on using a server-client network model. After discussing how to solve the networking without causing input lag and with a good structure we started working on it.
We chose to split the networking code into a “low end”-part that recieves and sends packets, a “message converter”-part that translates packets into our own message class, and a “message handler”-part that sorts and delivers messages […]

Weekly programming – The “client” concept (v49)

I’d like to describe a concept connected to code structure this week. I was introduced to this concept in a book I’m currently reading called “More Effective C++: 35 ways to improve your programs and designs” by Scott Meyers. It’s an optional book for our current course in programming.

The concept in a nutshell is making classes with it’s “clients” in mind. Clients are the programmers (perhaps yourself included) and other classes or parts of the code that will use the said class. You might […]

Weekly programming – The “client” concept (v49)

I’d like to describe a concept connected to code structure this week. I was introduced to this concept in a book I’m currently reading called “More Effective C++: 35 ways to improve your programs and designs” by Scott Meyers. It’s an optional book for our current course in programming.

The concept in a nutshell is making classes with it’s “clients” in mind. Clients are the programmers (perhaps yourself included) and other classes or parts of the code that will use the said class. You might […]

Weekly programming – sending images with a C++ web server (v48)

I’ve completed our second assignment of the course, the C++ web server.
After having completed the required tasks for the assignment I challenged myself by trying to send images with the server as well. It seems easy, you need to load the image into memory and send it as usual with a HTTP-header. Well, it wasn’t as easy as that for me, I needed to make some major changes to my previous code.
The first step, loading the image into memory. I had […]

Weekly programming – sending images with a C++ web server (v48)

I’ve completed our second assignment of the course, the C++ web server.
After having completed the required tasks for the assignment I challenged myself by trying to send images with the server as well. It seems easy, you need to load the image into memory and send it as usual with a HTTP-header. Well, it wasn’t as easy as that for me, I needed to make some major changes to my previous code.
The first step, loading the image into memory. I had […]

Weekly programming – Templated Linked List (v46)

This weekend I created a linked list class using tutorials from “Paul Programming” on Youtube (link). This linked list was locked to integer variables.
This tuesday we had a lecture on template programming and I set out to modify my linked list into a templated one.
Before I got it working I had problems with these things;
I started by changing all functions IN the class by adding template to them. THEN I added the template to the entire LinkedList class. I got errors that I […]

Weekly programming – Templated Linked List (v46)

This weekend I created a linked list class using tutorials from “Paul Programming” on Youtube (link). This linked list was locked to integer variables.
This tuesday we had a lecture on template programming and I set out to modify my linked list into a templated one.
Before I got it working I had problems with these things;
I started by changing all functions IN the class by adding template to them. THEN I added the template to the entire LinkedList class. I got errors that I […]

Mystery project is “Desert Raiders” – Game explained – Post #3

I have decided on a production name of my mystery project, it’s now called “Desert Raiders”.
The game is a competative multiplayer arena style game for 2-4 players. The goal of an arena match is to eliminate all competitors and be the only survivor left standing. The core mechanics are simple, players place explosives in order to destroy destructible objects and damage players.
Descructible objects can drop upgrades that improve players explosives during a match. Players can also have unique special abilities, such as “dash”, “remote explosive” […]