Tuesday, 31 May 2011
More Update
Long break due to Bethan getting ill, meaning I've been home pretty much continually. May continue for a little while, as it's half term. Progress is still happening in fits and starts, however. Axon leg joints now work perfectly, including torque. Am now implementing the "spasming flex" movement, and the fusing of legs that contact with each other.
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Gestalt Update
Got the physics working absolutely perfectly. Then realised I needed to implement rotating joint motors, so added joints in. Broke the physics again.
Monday, 23 May 2011
Writing Games Is Easy
Oh dear, here we go again. Just saw another string of comments on a RPS post about how "writing games is easier than ever."
Um, no. Writing games is every bit as difficult as its ever been.
Someone else made it worse by saying "No, it's just coding games is easier than ever."
Um, no again. Coding games is every bit as difficult as its ever been. Its just that a lot of very clever people have very nicely done a whole lot of the work for you. This is a good thing - it democratises the process and means that we have more bodies to throw at the "writing games is hard" problem we mentioned earlier.
Unfortunately, if you want to step outside the boundaries of those elements they've been nice enough to provide, you're still going to discover to your horror that coding games is as difficult now - if not more so - than it ever was before.
Gestalt Update
Nearly there. Legs are in place, IT ALL WORKS OMFG. Moving towards having an actual game at quite some pace.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Rare Stuff and the Retro Sideline
We've been doing this vintage/retro computer stuff for a few weeks now (well, Ian has, I've been coding and parenting) and we keep stumbling into rarities. We've got an Issue 1 Spectrum hanging around, an Atari 2800 (yes, that's correct, a 2800 - the ultra-rate Japanese version of the 2600) and Ian's just shown me a copy of "Grid Master".
Now, setting aside the fact that "Grid Master" sounds like the most awesome name for a CBBC cartoon ever (just try saying it in an evil villain voice), it's apparently even listed as MIA on "World of Spectrum", the definitive online catalogue. So just a teensy bit rare, then.
And this is after 3 weeks.
The sideline's not making any real amount of cash (plenty of turnover, but profit is held back by the need to constantly bring in more stock along with the ungodly postage costs) but it's certainly interesting as all hell.
If you're wondering, the general retro shop is here and you can find the rarest pieces generally on our eBay shop.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Gestalt Update
Node ownership done. Axon spawning (and ratios) done but not fully tested yet. Custard level checks done. Update cycle implemented. Axon physics implemented but completely and utterly broken.
- Mouse picking and live control of Axons
- Red assembly templates - Clickables on the node screen
Once Axon physics is working, I'll prettify what I have so far a bit and release some super-early screenies and vids.
After that, here's the tasklist to first demo release:
- Axon joins - creation of Yellow chains, Blue definitions, Red assemblies
- Red auto-assemble
- Paradigm Screen
- Feed in paradigm output already calculated
- Unlocking mechanism
- Create 3 or 4 demo paradigms
- Axon structures on the Node Map Screen
- Animation of defensive structures
- Travel along node lines
- Demo enemy Gestalt
- Node possession
- Yellow dump
- Red defences
- It won't expand or produce Paradigm for upgrades
- Frontend improvements
- Updated intro screen
- Music
- SFX
- Higher quality UI elements
Optional demo tasks:
- Throbbing/Electrical arcing effect on connected Axons
- Invasive enemy AI
- 3-Axon
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
On Minecraft, Zeitgeist, And Indie Megahits
Gamesindustry.biz has an interview up with Daniel Kaplan (reg rqrd), the business development officer at Mojang Developments, the firm created by Notch from the success of Minecraft.
Much of it involves discussion of the corporate "noise level" they're under, but a big part of it leapt out at me.
Kaplan: "It's really hard to tell. We still don't really know how big Minecraft is - we have to update ourselves! Last year the huge blogs like Kotaku and Penny Arcade wrote about it - that's when we realised, wow. It was already going well, but when those guys wrote about it it started to go great. They made a huge impact on our sales and brand. We are very grateful."
He's keeping it somewhat under his hat, but essentially this has been the way Notch and Mojang as a whole have been all along on the subject of the "secret of their success." This has been in stark contrast with most of the journalists I've read on the subject, who seem to be determined to promote the idea that Minecraft's success was some kind of magical feat, some organic thing that simply leapt fully-formed from the quality of the product.
This is, of course, purest crap. Minecraft is an excellent game with one absolutely masterful mechanic (the spawning of monsters at night-time, which forces the player to engage the world around them with a strict time limit from the start). But there are thousands of excellent indie games out there, and hundreds using the same paid-alpha approach as Minecraft. Why haven't they all made millions?
Because Minecraft, good a game as it is, got its success not from any inherent quality of the game, but from a thousand blogs, forums, and online magazines carrying the news on Mojang's behalf. There's a name for this kind of self-perpetuating narrative. It's called a "zeitgeist". And this zeitgest, this sheer blind luck of the draw, is the secret to Minecraft's success.
Contrary to the magical thinking of journalists, Notch/Mojang simply got lucky. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less.
But here's the awesome part. This industry isn't filled with humble people, not even amongst the indie community (hello there!). And yet... Mojang pretty much hand credit for their success to the blogs and comics. They're talking about funding other indie titles they like the look of. They even recognise the nascent block-em-up genre they've popularised (not invented, incidentally, the concept is a decade old) and seem happy to watch contenders arise. They're pushing to make their users happy, not to broaden their fan base or increase their DLC sales, but pretty much just because they want to. They've made millions, and yet they're displaying humility.
I don't say this often... but in this case it's deserved. Mojang Developments are The Good Guys.
Much of it involves discussion of the corporate "noise level" they're under, but a big part of it leapt out at me.
Kaplan: "It's really hard to tell. We still don't really know how big Minecraft is - we have to update ourselves! Last year the huge blogs like Kotaku and Penny Arcade wrote about it - that's when we realised, wow. It was already going well, but when those guys wrote about it it started to go great. They made a huge impact on our sales and brand. We are very grateful."
He's keeping it somewhat under his hat, but essentially this has been the way Notch and Mojang as a whole have been all along on the subject of the "secret of their success." This has been in stark contrast with most of the journalists I've read on the subject, who seem to be determined to promote the idea that Minecraft's success was some kind of magical feat, some organic thing that simply leapt fully-formed from the quality of the product.
This is, of course, purest crap. Minecraft is an excellent game with one absolutely masterful mechanic (the spawning of monsters at night-time, which forces the player to engage the world around them with a strict time limit from the start). But there are thousands of excellent indie games out there, and hundreds using the same paid-alpha approach as Minecraft. Why haven't they all made millions?
Because Minecraft, good a game as it is, got its success not from any inherent quality of the game, but from a thousand blogs, forums, and online magazines carrying the news on Mojang's behalf. There's a name for this kind of self-perpetuating narrative. It's called a "zeitgeist". And this zeitgest, this sheer blind luck of the draw, is the secret to Minecraft's success.
Contrary to the magical thinking of journalists, Notch/Mojang simply got lucky. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less.
But here's the awesome part. This industry isn't filled with humble people, not even amongst the indie community (hello there!). And yet... Mojang pretty much hand credit for their success to the blogs and comics. They're talking about funding other indie titles they like the look of. They even recognise the nascent block-em-up genre they've popularised (not invented, incidentally, the concept is a decade old) and seem happy to watch contenders arise. They're pushing to make their users happy, not to broaden their fan base or increase their DLC sales, but pretty much just because they want to. They've made millions, and yet they're displaying humility.
I don't say this often... but in this case it's deserved. Mojang Developments are The Good Guys.
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