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UDs Stuff - Been A While

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 22:22:00 +0000

Feck.

I need to get some shit done.

UDs Stuff - Pool Panic

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:13:00 +0000

Finally got my .pnd of Pool Panic to work.

Filename incompetence for the second time in my Linux homebrew career. I've made myself write out 'all filenames are lower case' 100 times.

Here it is:
PoolPanic.pnd

Dpad - cursor control
X - shoot (hold to increase power then release to shoot)
Y - change screens on title page
START - erm, start
ESC (fn+Q) - quit

Couple of issues with balls falling off the table near the pockets (either the pockets aren't big enough or the rail sizes are wrong). Won't save/load high scores/times (don't want to waste anyone's SD card before I try saving on my own card ).

So..

Need to fix collisions
Need to add save/load scores
Need to do some more graphics - how bad is the banding on the table? 32bit textures converted to 16bit using SDL is not nice
Need to normalise the sound effects. Some are MUCH louder than others.

A full days work probably. No Grand Prix or football (that I care about) this Sunday so might get a chance to do it then.

UDs Stuff - Linux Version

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:12:00 +0000

Took me a day of pulling my hair out (openGL was a fucking pain in the arse - installing my gfx card drivers changed where the GL lib was located. And as a Linux noob it meant browsing forums and trying (seemingly) random shit until I found a post about soft linking...)

Anyway, here's both the Linux and Windows versions. Not done anything new so if you've got the last Windows build and don't have Linux there is nothing new for you here.

CLICK HERE FOR BOTH LINUX AND WINDOWS VERSIONS

Windows users double click ATF.exe
Linux users double click ATF

I'm using Ubuntu and it's the first time I've ever installed a Linux distribution. So far I'm liking it a lot. Shame it can't replace my Windows install. I use too many Windows only apps. Perhaps I can wean myself off them....

UDs Stuff - Scary Emails

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:11:00 +0000

Got my shipping email this morning. Also got my tracking code from UPS via email.

This means I've got to do something I've never done before... compile in Linux (is it Lie-nux or Li-nux? I don't want to look like a noob)
Scripting and PXML and .sh and bash.... shit - should have done this weeks ago...

*edit*
Sig is now updated for the first time ~~in two years~~ this year. All the GP2X games are there now... Off to kick PowerSlides arse for old times sake...

UDs Stuff - Finish Him!

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:10:00 +0000

Well, it comes down to this - one free weekend and a load of caffeine.

I need one more NPC - 'the baiter'
I need the gates give up power-ups with the option of collect or leave for upgrades
I need to structure the game into easily digestible chunks

Piece of pish

Wish me luck

UDs Stuff - Laser Squad

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:09:00 +0000

I was a *big* Laser Squad player. PvP was what we played. Versus CPU was too easy.

I stumbled across this updated version. Didn't like it at first - too different from the original for me I thought.

But, bejesus, what a crackin game.

Dragons_Slayer's Blog - New Pandora Game In The Works

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:22:00 +0000

Just a short post to say I'm working on a 2D musical platform game called "Mr Mike in Musicworld" using Penjin by Pokeparadox. It is inspired by the ocarina playing in OOT, jam with the band (DS game) and some classic platform games. As soon as I have something to show I'll make a topic.

UDs Stuff - Building Stupidity

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:02:00 +0000

I've got the tri count down so it probably works on the SGX at a reasonable level (<5k tris @ 30fps using IrrLicht). That ~hopefully~ will run well. We just don't know...
The next step is making it into a decent game.

Some ideas:
Bombs are weighted and draw everything towards the player depending on their threat. The less of a threat the more they are drawn to you.
Gates give up power-ups. You can collect them or leave them. Catch another gate you get a +level power-up.

I still want to have 'pure' race levels. This means changing from no friction to a basic physics model where going up hills costs speed. Not hard to do but will detract from the original 'Defender'-style game play.

Ohh. And shooting at random will be punished.
I hate those caants.

UDs Stuff - Speed Improvements

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:01:00 +0000

Been spending the last couple of weeks trying various methods to get the triangle count down. In a previous post in this blog I mentioned that Cpasjuste told me he was only getting 20fps from the IrrLicht castle demo. That demo has just over 10k triangles. ATF had 14k triangles. Obviously I needed the tri count down.

Well I managed to get it down to less than 7k at the high mark and 2k at the low mark with ~5k average. No real loss of graphical quality (still using 128x128 textures, same size (scaled) of terrain, same amount of NPCs). Had to use far culling a little bit (if I didn't the tri count can peak at 9k). Lost a little smoothing but I doubt it's noticeable to anyone other than me and will be even less so on the Pandora screen.

So if the castle demo was running at 20fps with 10k tris I'm hoping I get 30-35fps. Everything is done in delta time so a smallish fps variance wont be that noticeable.

Here is the latest build with the fps locked at 35. It looks less smooth than previous builds but should be more representative of what we will see on the Pandora.
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/6/27/1978308//ATF.zip

*edit*
Just realised that the one thing that isn't delta timed is the time between waves.... The second wave of landers will take a bit longer to appear... the will come eventually... sorry

*edit2*
New version uploaded. Max tris 6k, average ~3.5k, min 2k. Forgot to fix the delta time between waves. It loses a lot of smoothing (the ships roll is quite a bit more jerky) so I'm not sure the speed increase will be worth it. It's an option I suppose.

*edit3*
There a few things that aren't on delta time. Fecking billboard animations for one. Feck it. Part of its charm.....

UDs Stuff - Back Once Again For The Rengade Master...

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +0000

...default damager... with the ill behaviour...power to the people.....

Got some spare time to finally finish ATF.

I still haven't deciced which audio engine to use, although it looks like SDL_mixer will win purely down to the fact I've used it before and know how it works (and it's limitations).

This will be a VERY hard game to play

Real date of this entry is 3rd Feb 2010. The blog function on the GP32X site only goes to 2009....