No Name Games

Ok, so my Arkanoid wannabe obviously isn’t anything fancy, but I had a little fun with it last night. I got a particle system functioning (somewhat) for when the blocks break, and added gravity to the particles and the ball.

Also added sound - although I’m recycling sounds at the moment. Maybe one of these times I’ll actually make the thing available, if I put in enough effort on it to make it more interesting anyway.

I am pretty much addicted to podcasts, and a large portion of them deal with either game development or just games in general.  Thought id sure some of the ones I listen to

The Penny Arcade podcast
Cheap ass gamer
Gamers with jobs
Kropotkin uk gaming news
PC gamer podcast
Sacrcastic gamer podcast
Totally rad show
XBLA insider
Giant bombcast
Video gamer podcast
The geek box
All IGN gaming podcasts
Rebel FM radio
GDC radio
OXM podcast
Top seceret podcast
Bungie podcast
The hot spot
Gay gamer podcast
Blizzcast (Blizzards offical podcast)
Podcastle
Insomniac podcast
Indie game developers podcast
Not another gaming podcast (The gaming podcast I am the host of :-D)

I listen to more, but I believe this is a big enough list for now Enjoy, I know I do!

The creator of a bunch of really cool Indie games like Chalk, Noitu love and recently Noitu love 2 has created an arcade style game with a Zelda theme.  It’s pretty darn fun, full of lots of fast paced action tons  of explosions and has gamepad support (Xbox 360 controller!).

Download here

So make sure to check out the game and if you like this sort of stuff (can’t see how you wouldn’t) go to his website and check out all of his stuff.

Was looking around the internet for some free games to play, and came across these games…  It seems that you can make some pretty decent games using Javascript.  Interesting how this whole area of web game development is pretty much left in the dark thanks  to Flash.  Still pretty cool that you do not require any sort of plugin to play these games, just click and play

I must admit Microsoft is doing pretty well in the game development scene these days…  With the birth of XNA, they have made it really easy for just about anyone with a little bit of basic programming knowledge to make a high quality video game pretty easily.  But it seems with there new project Kudo they are going to try and make it even easier for people to make games!  “Kodu is a new visual programming language made specifically for creating games. It is designed to be accessible for children and enjoyable for anyone. The programming environment runs on the Xbox, allowing rapid design iteration using only a game controller for input.”  So really with this new tool it will make it super easy for just about anyone to make a game.  In a sense it’s like RPG Maker but way more mainstream…  So yeah, *claps* bravo Microsoft, bravo.

Before pushing out a release of new software there are certian bugs that should always be checked for and this one just so happen to be one of them…  “Unable to save a SharedObject” It basically means that you will not be able to save data to a local machine using a shared object in Flash… And since a lot of Flash games tend to save user data locally… This could be bad news for any new flash games targeting Flash Player 10… Or possibly for people attempting to play Flash games that have some sort of saving mechanic after upgrading to Flash Player 10.

Inverse kinematics: “is the process of determining the parameters of a jointed flexible object (a kinematic chain) in order to achieve a desired pose. Inverse kinematics is a type of motion planning. Inverse kinematics are also relevant to game programming and 3D animation, where a common use is making sure game characters connect physically to the world, such as feet landing firmly on top of terrain.” Id say Wikipedia sums it up pretty clearly
It takes a bit to load…  Please wait.

It’s funny how you see this sort of thing a lot in games, and in flash cartoons… but never really hear it talked about that much. The example below is something I snagged from a blog where this guy creates a demo which shows you exactly what Inverse Kinematics is all about! Give it a go.. It’s some pretty fascinating stuff.

http://dynamicnetcreations.com/blog/?p=44

As of Flash CS4 Inverse Kinematics functionality is built into the IDE and you can do it from with in code to.

Although this tutorial is for a much older version of flash…  the concepts still remain the same, and I am sure you could apply this logic to just about any other language.  So if you are interested id take a look at http://www.gotoandplay.it/_articles/2004/12/inverseKinematics.php

I can’t think of a more relaxing gaming experience.

Unlock achievements and get the highest score in this exciting 3D space shooter!

Click the image to play the game

AstroMines is a 3D space shooter in which you blow up asteroids to earn points.

You can register with us and we’ll keep track of your scores, and you can even earn achievements. The scoreboard will show you your scores, and when you click the ‘online’ button, it’ll show you all the high scores saved to our database. See if you can top our scores!

In Survival Mode, you’re flying through space with asteroids continuously coming at you. You’ll have to keep blowing them up and dodging them as they split into smaller asteroids and get faster and faster!

In the mini-game we included, you play a twist on a classic! If you were into the old one, you just might like this version.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do as much as we’d wanted to do with the game (no missions, had to scrap the storyline, fewer objects in space, things like that…) - largely due to time and Flash performance constraints. But hopefully you’ll enjoy what’s there! If you like it, be sure to say so - we just might include that stuff in a sequel!

And remember! Gold asteroids are worth 5 times as much.

===== Basic Instructions =====
To bring up or get rid of the options screen:
-Enter

To pause while play:
-Escape

Survival Mode:
-Movement: W/S/A/D or Up/Down/Left/Right
-Shoot: Space bar or Ctl keys

Mini-game:
-Turning: Left/Right
-Accelerate/Decelerate: Up/Down
-Shoot: Space bar

-Developers
Joseph Burchett: Project Lead, web and game play programmer
Gary Deng: Physics and game play programmer
Eli Ross: Sound Engineer, 3D Modeler, game play/UI programmer
Joseph Grasso: Concept artist, texture, and 3D modeler
Lauren Zeier: Contributing concept artist
Andy Dicochea: Contributing artist
Zach Rhyenolds: Q/A, designer, tester

-Tools used
Platform: Flash player 9
Animation: Boostworthy Animation Library
3D engine: Sandy 3D Engine

Special thanks to
Everyone who helped test the game, and to the Sacramento Game Developers Meetup, without it none of this would have been possible