Sunday 25 October 2009
Consolve Development - Week 4
Week 4 of console dev saw us build on what we learnt about MIPS assembly and add additional functionality through jumps and loops. Again I found the tasks enjoyable and something which makes you really think about how to solve the problem .I like the fact there's many different ways of solving problems at this level and look forward to seeing how other people have gone about solving them compared to my solutions.
Game Dev Tech - Week 3 and 4
A double helping of Game Dev Tech updates as never got round to posting about the week 3 activities.
Over the two weeks we have been looking at unreal script and how it works and then using the script to set the ground work for our total conversions into famous five games.
Week 3 involved the set up of getting our map playable in the game in a game mode where there wouldn't be weapons and the player could just explore, so there was something to do in the game the player could perform a dance which could increase their score.
Using unreal script can be greatly enjoyable or greatly frustrating, you can switch between the two moods in a very quick time as well. You'll be feeling everything is going fine then bang something will break and can take an age to work out why. Week 3 I feel I did really well and as well as getting the basic mod up and running was able to add some additional sounds and animations which is useful knowledge as will need it in my final game and was also able to add a credits page which again will be needed in the end game.
Week 4 saw us build on this and build a mini game which involved the collection of 10 items and seeing how long it took the player to collect the items. I've already pretty much got the mini game finished so will be looking at spending additional time this week expanding upon it and adding restart options etc to make the game more usable.
Over the two weeks we have been looking at unreal script and how it works and then using the script to set the ground work for our total conversions into famous five games.
Week 3 involved the set up of getting our map playable in the game in a game mode where there wouldn't be weapons and the player could just explore, so there was something to do in the game the player could perform a dance which could increase their score.
Using unreal script can be greatly enjoyable or greatly frustrating, you can switch between the two moods in a very quick time as well. You'll be feeling everything is going fine then bang something will break and can take an age to work out why. Week 3 I feel I did really well and as well as getting the basic mod up and running was able to add some additional sounds and animations which is useful knowledge as will need it in my final game and was also able to add a credits page which again will be needed in the end game.
Week 4 saw us build on this and build a mini game which involved the collection of 10 items and seeing how long it took the player to collect the items. I've already pretty much got the mini game finished so will be looking at spending additional time this week expanding upon it and adding restart options etc to make the game more usable.
Sunday 18 October 2009
Intro to 3D - Week 3
Intro to 3D in week 3 built upon the work done in week 2 learning about vectors and taking this into matrices which can be used for transformations in 3D graphics.
The idea of matrcies being used in 3D can be difficult to get your head around, the matrix used (no, not the movie...) to carry out these transformations use 4 dimensions , with the way the human bran works in 3D visulising this is very difficult to do and makes more sense when worked through in paper.
I now have a program which can move a vector using the transormation matrices
The idea of matrcies being used in 3D can be difficult to get your head around, the matrix used (no, not the movie...) to carry out these transformations use 4 dimensions , with the way the human bran works in 3D visulising this is very difficult to do and makes more sense when worked through in paper.
I now have a program which can move a vector using the transormation matrices
Console Development - Week 3
Apologies for the lack of posts on my blog over last week or so. I've got some spare time today so will be updating for all the modules I am studying
First update comes from Console Development, week 2's task of finding a working disassembler for the Atari jaguar didn't go as planned (nobody ever brought one and anything made for it was made back wayyyyyyyyyyy in the past) week 3 I found really interesting and have enjoyed doing the work for it.
We were introduced the the assembly language called MIPS, assembly language is programming closer to the metal of the computer making individual instructions dealing with registers and memory directly compared to other languages I have seen in the past such as c# and c++
This week through tutorial work have learnt arithmetic operations and loading and saving from memory locations. It's been challenging to get to grips with at times but I've really been able to get into the programming and enjoyed doing the exercises and understanding how it all works.
At the moment this module is probably the one I'm finding most interesting and enjoyable to work on and looking forward to learning more MIPS in the coming weeks
First update comes from Console Development, week 2's task of finding a working disassembler for the Atari jaguar didn't go as planned (nobody ever brought one and anything made for it was made back wayyyyyyyyyyy in the past) week 3 I found really interesting and have enjoyed doing the work for it.
We were introduced the the assembly language called MIPS, assembly language is programming closer to the metal of the computer making individual instructions dealing with registers and memory directly compared to other languages I have seen in the past such as c# and c++
This week through tutorial work have learnt arithmetic operations and loading and saving from memory locations. It's been challenging to get to grips with at times but I've really been able to get into the programming and enjoyed doing the exercises and understanding how it all works.
At the moment this module is probably the one I'm finding most interesting and enjoyable to work on and looking forward to learning more MIPS in the coming weeks
Tuesday 6 October 2009
The weekends work
So as I said in my opening blog I set myself work to get finished over the weekend. Sadly they weren't completed but working on it today should get me back on track by tomorrow.
I managed to complete the paint program application for my Intro to 3D module, I managed to teach myself how to use the keyboard and mouse input and these skills will be useful throughout the program so was worth learning at this early stage of the year.
The program itself was quite basic with the user having the option to draw lines, rectangles and circles. The way it is set up though the functionality to add more options to the program would be straight forward enough and will be something I hope to get some time to look at some time in the future.
Just finished latest Intro to 3D session and went well, I feel confident in how vectors work and have managed to complete a program to carry out the functionality which vectors require, with how important vectors will be to the module I'm glad I have a solid knowledge of them early on and can carry on progressing
Off for lunch then time to catch up on the Game Dev Tech scheduling work which I want to get finished this afternoon
I managed to complete the paint program application for my Intro to 3D module, I managed to teach myself how to use the keyboard and mouse input and these skills will be useful throughout the program so was worth learning at this early stage of the year.
The program itself was quite basic with the user having the option to draw lines, rectangles and circles. The way it is set up though the functionality to add more options to the program would be straight forward enough and will be something I hope to get some time to look at some time in the future.
Just finished latest Intro to 3D session and went well, I feel confident in how vectors work and have managed to complete a program to carry out the functionality which vectors require, with how important vectors will be to the module I'm glad I have a solid knowledge of them early on and can carry on progressing
Off for lunch then time to catch up on the Game Dev Tech scheduling work which I want to get finished this afternoon
Friday 2 October 2009
Welcome to my blog !
Hey there people,
Best start off by introducing myself, I'm Martin Allen a 2nd year student at Derby University studying computer games programing with a dream of becoming a games programmer.
Through this blog you'll be able to read the highs (and lows) as the 2nd year goes along and see the progress I make as a programmer
The 3 areas which I'll be working on this term are Game Development Techniques which will end up with me producing a total conversion of the Unreal Engine into a game about the famous five (you know, Timmy the dog and ginger beer...). Intro to 3D graphics which will see me carry out my first 3D programming and console development which will span the entire year and see many areas covered. I'll talk about these in more detail in separate updates
My aims for the weekend (and Monday with the 3 day weekend timetable creates) are to make a paint program using gdiplus to practise graphics skills, I've already started this and think I have the input side of the program sorted just need to add the functionality for drawing different objects, I have plans on how to do this just need to sit down and implement them.
The other piece of work I want to get done this weekend is breaking down my famous five game into manageable chunks so I can manage the project. With a well managed project might not even have a deadline rush !
Anyways that's all for now, it's late and I need some sleep. I look forward to listening to the wonderful sound of Luton match commentary while I code tomorrow afternoon, never know we might just win for once....
laters
Best start off by introducing myself, I'm Martin Allen a 2nd year student at Derby University studying computer games programing with a dream of becoming a games programmer.
Through this blog you'll be able to read the highs (and lows) as the 2nd year goes along and see the progress I make as a programmer
The 3 areas which I'll be working on this term are Game Development Techniques which will end up with me producing a total conversion of the Unreal Engine into a game about the famous five (you know, Timmy the dog and ginger beer...). Intro to 3D graphics which will see me carry out my first 3D programming and console development which will span the entire year and see many areas covered. I'll talk about these in more detail in separate updates
My aims for the weekend (and Monday with the 3 day weekend timetable creates) are to make a paint program using gdiplus to practise graphics skills, I've already started this and think I have the input side of the program sorted just need to add the functionality for drawing different objects, I have plans on how to do this just need to sit down and implement them.
The other piece of work I want to get done this weekend is breaking down my famous five game into manageable chunks so I can manage the project. With a well managed project might not even have a deadline rush !
Anyways that's all for now, it's late and I need some sleep. I look forward to listening to the wonderful sound of Luton match commentary while I code tomorrow afternoon, never know we might just win for once....
laters
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