Trigonometry and Why I'm Glad I Learned that Stuff

If you ever decide to go into games and more specifically programming or designing them, you should know that math is a pretty big part of what goes on there.  Specifically trig and linear algebra and how to move between them.  Vector seems to come up a lot, as do angles and all your favourite trig functions: sin cos and tan.

When I added my exhaust particles, I had to write a fair bit of math to get them behaving properly.  Check out what's required to make one particle:

((std::vector *) g->debris)->push_back(new Exhaust(X + width*cos(roll_*M_PI/180.0)- height*sin(yaw_*M_PI/180.0), Y - width*sin(roll_*M_PI/180.0) - height*sin(pitch_*M_PI/180.0), Z+.02, 0.02,-height*sin(yaw_*M_PI/180.0)/2 ,-height*sin(pitch_*M_PI/180.0)/2,-0.005,g,"spark.png", 30));

Sin and cos and a firm understanding of radians vs degrees are used pretty heavily in order to make them both appear in the right place and then move in the right direction. 


 It call comes together to make this:

Math at Work!

-Liam

Pillar-Tastic

Foxlike now has obstacles.  Pillars to be precise.  Why they are in space, I can't really tell you, but getting them in there was relatively quick and painless.

I also implemented some functionality which allows the level to control the speed of the ship.

Twas a good day for development.


-Liam

Added Some "Particle" Effects

Particle in quotes because I'm pretty sure there are better ways to make this happen. I'm sure full blown particle system would use some textures to great effect, but I kinda wanted to see what I could do with some triangles alone and this was the result:

Now you have an engine trails which looks pretty cool and when you destroy enemies they explode in a cloud of debris.  Some larger enemies will shed debris as you hit them.

Kinda cool. Not sure what the next step is, but it was fun to get back the game for a bit and make it better.  I like it.  There is a beautiful simplicity with only using colored triangles as particles.

It also fits with the old-school motif that I might be going for?

-Liam

Gonna Settle in for Some Light Reading

 http://developer.amd.com/gpu_assets/ATI_Stream_SDK_OpenCL_Programming_Guide.pdf

Which will actually be pretty neat I think.

-Liam

The End of a Journey

Tonight, my friends, I feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment, but also a small sadness.   I am filled with a mixture of emotions and it is difficult to put this into words, so here is a picture.

What is depicted there is the end credits of the Throne of Ball and in essence the Baldur's Gate Series.  I started at the first game and took my party through to very end of last expansion.  From level 1 to 37 the same team stuck together and pulled through till then end.  Minsc the berzerker, Mazzy Fenton The halfing with heart, Imeon the happy go lucky turned very troubled Bhaalspawn and Viscinia the drow priestess of a dark god.  Together we actually managed to conquer all: Sarevok, Bodhi, John Irenicus and -spoiler?- Melissan.

and countless dragon

All in all, I could not tell you how long I played these games, but on and off again over the course of years, I've finally managed to bring the series to a close.  Such good games, and they sure as hell don't pull any punches.  Every step was a tooth and nail fight.

Looking back on the series, the best game is clearly the first one.  It's basically an open world D&D rpg with up to 6 players.  Years and years ahead of it's time.  At the same time, I still feel that the entire series is western rpg perfection.  You always feel like your in a wondrously detailed setting and plays fitting tribute to it's roots and background without getting mired in it.  Nothing every feels contrived and I challenge anyone to find a plot hole.  It characters and motivations are believable and the entirety of the series feels like reading a really good book.

You never once feel like you've got a solid grounding either.  You're always on the tip of a wonderful iceberg of exploration.  I once entered a random basement only to discover the tomb of an elemental litch - who happened to have a torso made of gold.  What do you do with a torso made of gold?  I never managed to find out.

I really suggest people play those games if they haven't already.  Especially if you have recently been introduced to Bioware through Dragon Age or Mass Effect.  Dragon Age was a throwback to Baldur's gate, but it does not surpass it.

"Minsc and Boo Stand Ready"

-Liam

P.S. Save the pantaloons.

Awesome Final Fantasy VI Covers:

Whoever did these is clearly aweosme:

 

-Liam

New Site!

I now have liamkiemele.com up and running!   This should hopefully provide a solid professional page for me to use in the future.  I'm not sure if I'm going to move this stuff over or not.

Stay tuned?

-Liam

New Build!

Hello!

Foxlike has a new build.  Which Can be downloaded here: Build 0.1.1.781

This one is for windows!  I recently moved everything over and here it is.  I've successfully added sound as well as an additional enemy.  All in all, the pieces are coming together.

I changed the control scheme to be more mouse and keyboard like.  I wanted to take advantage of a PC's strength as oppose to emulating a console style control scheme.  You can now move and aim seperately from each other.  The controls are given when you start the game, but they are pretty simple.  wasd to move and click to fire.

The music is currently just a place holder and the song right now was chosen because it was in an ogg vorbis format and had a permissable license.  I also get a kick out of it.  You are in space after all.  I'd really like to get some original music in there instead, but one works with what they have.

Anyway please check it out and get back to me with feedback.  I'd really like your thoughts and ideas about controls and firing.

-Liam

Foxlike on the move again

I've finally got some time and I've been using some of it keep on cranking out my Starfox Clone which is tentatively named Foxlike.

I've also managed to port it over to windows, so that's pretty cool.  Hopefully I'll be able to post a build sooner or later and people can give it a go.

The "engine" is more or less in the place.  The only things that's not quite working is sound, but I should be able to get it up and running soon.  I'm using OpenAL, so there is a bit of a learning curve there, but so far it seems to be pretty reasonable to work with.  It's also designed for 3D environments, so that's cool.  It appears to take care of all the heavy lifting - and can do things like the Doppler effect.

Anyway, I'm always open to receiving some artistic content to go into the game.  If you feel like you have a n idea, send it my way.  I'm always looking out for some storyline/plot/characters, art, models or music.  If you'd like to get something in this game, let me know.

-Liam

Socks Make People Sexy's Final Fantasy VI Review

If you haven't played final fantasy VI and are looking for incentive or if you want to know what you missed:

http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff06

If you have played it, I suggest reading this even more.  Final Fantasy VI was a pretty special game and absolutely the height of the Final Fantasy series.  It's been 17 years and three console generations and has arguably yet to be surpassed.

I also suggest reading the Chrono Cross Review.  Chrono Cross is one the best rated games of all time - but kind of falls short.  It's cool to see what happened with it.  Ludicrous ambition on the part of it's existentialist writer/director made for a pretty cool outcome.  Music is awesome though.

Mostly this Guy

And there is always Trigger.  The greatest game of all time - period.  I'm playing through it again right now and have found some new things that somehow escaped me the previous 35 times.  Which brings me to a small point on replayability.  The best way to make a game re-playable is to make it crazy fun and good so you want to play it over and over and over again.  Easier said than done.

Relatively Obscure Reference

-Liam