New Goal: BEEP is going to the Indy Game Festival!
Aug 11th
The Indy Game Festival is THE place to be for a rising independent game devloper. Some of my favorite titles have been a part of this festival (and the prizes aren’t that bad either!).
But more than anything, I really want to get some eyeballs on the game and show an interested audience what BEEP is all about.
So my new goal is to have a ‘release candidate’ build ready by October 18th (the submission deadline for the IGF). With some blood, sweat and tears… that might actually happen.
BEEP Gets Ported To Linux
Jul 28th
Linux is like an addiction for me; at times it feels a bit unhealthy, but I can’t resist it.
Back in the early 2000’s, I experimented with various distributions while going to school. Since then, I’ve used Red Hat and Suse Linux at work (for computer graphics and animation work) and experimented heavily with Ubuntu at home.
In the past, I tried desperately to make Ubuntu my primary desktop system, but I always came crawling back to Windows when the mountain of incompatibilities forced me to admit that it ‘just wasn’t ready yet’. In those early days, I think I liked the idea of Linux, more than Linux itself.
Boy have things changed in just two short years. My recent experience porting BEEP to Ubuntu linux has been a very pleasant one. Linux has really come into it’s own as a viable desktop platform. And I’m very happy to report that my videogame, BEEP, is running great in the newest version of Ubuntu.
The Best Python IDE For Maya
May 7th
Since Maya included Python as it’s scripting language, animation TD’s all over the globe have made the transition from MEL. While learning a new language isn’t always easy, I don’t know of a single person who misses the days of MEL scripting. Python is, in every conceivable way, better than MEL.
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The 2d Side-Scrolling Platformer
Apr 4th
I’m building a videogame (BEEP) that belongs to the ‘platformer’ genre. More specifically, it’s a ‘2d side-scrolling’ platformer. Platformers were THE dominant videogame genre for much of the 80’s and 90’s. This article explores the platforming genre to understand exactly what it’s all about. After all, platforming remains one of the highest selling and paradoxically, least saturated gaming genres.
BEEP Gets Some Levels
Mar 17th
BEEP is at the point now where we are cranking out levels and prepping to begin audio work. I’m happy with the gun controls and general locomotion. I have a nice little selection of enemy types (both stationary and ones that chase the player). The ‘AI entities’ ( ie. Finite State Machines with basic ray-casting perception) are fun to play with and can certainly be challenging given the dangerous environments that host the encounters (lots of ‘death pits’, as I’m calling them).
Managing Risks: Compatibility / Audio / UI / Mental Fortitude
Feb 15th
Not having a lot of time for lengthy updates, I’ve decided to bundle a bunch of stuff into a single article. I think it gives you a snapshot of the sorts of things that lie on the periphery of game development but are integral to the final product. In recent weeks I’ve been scrambling to pull together all those loose ends that, if left unaccounted for, could easily unravel the whole project.
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