Lastest Version Available for Download....

For anyone who may be interested, the latest version of my game, Free Radicals, is available for download here (http://www.seriousgames.ie/mediawiki-1.6.10/index.php/Projects#Free_Radicals).

Currently it is only available to play on the PC and a Xbox 360 controller is necessary.

As this is an XNA title, I presume the end user will have knowledge of how to use the .ccgame file format. Basically you must have XNA game studio installed on your machine. If you experience a drop in frame rate during use, please switch off some of the options in the options menu. Mainly the Atmosphere Background option. It is heavy on processing power especially for dated machines.

Please let me know what you think.

Enjoy...
Mark.

Cube Invaders - Space Invaders clone with a Twist (XNA)

This is the a recent XNA Ireland Competition 2008 entry from DIT. The Event was in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders....

Download .ccgame file here.

Progress with XNA

This week I demoed my Games World Assignment, I made a game using XNA. The Game was a very simple asteroid game. I originally designed it to be a top down game.

I then decided to do a fully 3D game.

Asteroid Shooting Game
•Player control a ship and navigates it around the 3D environment
•Players shoots as many asteroids as possible to get a high score, a collision causes death and the game is restarted.
Limited Ammo;
•Warps around the environment
•Can kill player also
•Stay active until they hit either player/asteroid
•Ammo isn’t replenished until it hits either player/asteroid
Simple Scoring system in place;
•Shot Penalty = -1;
•Death Penalty = -100;
•Warp Penalty = -50;
•Kill Bonus Brown Asteroid = 25;
•Kill Bonus Grey Asteroid = 50;

• Updated the camera to chase the ship in a 3D world
Fixed Position Camera
Spring Mounted Camera
• Added collision detection to all entities
Asteroids rebound asteroids
Bullets destroy Ship/Asteroids
Asteroids destroy ship
• Added skybox
• Attempted to add particle effects, explosions, smoke plumes, didn’t work with skybox alpha blend…

Microsoft XNA Event : Trinity College Dublin

This event was very well organised, Steve Collins formally of Havok spoke about the industry and how Ireland has achieved allot for such a small nation. The day was based around XNA and trying to get people in computer science courses to use it. As I was already using it, they didn't need to sell it to me. It was very interesting seeing the people who actually designed XNA. All of the speakers were a pleasure to listen to and I felt everyone came away from the event feeling good and upbeat about XNA. They spoke on length about the upcoming release of XNA 2.0.

Taito Corportation gives its support to the XNA Ireland Challenge 2008
Taito Corporation have given permission to the XNA Ireland Users Group to honour SPACE INVADERS 30th Birthday on the 13th March 2008. The XNA Ireland Challenge 2008 will run in parallel to Robocode Ireland. The event is already attracting entries from schools and colleges across the country.

Competition Schedule
The competition schedule for XNA Ireland Challenge is as follows:
November ’07 to March ’08, Schools Colleges and Universities should select the students or team to represent their institution. The selection mechanism should be in manner deemed appropriate by that institution. It is suggested that an internal challenge competition be held to select XNA Ireland Challenge qualifiers.
February 3rd, Schools, Colleges and Universities officially register for the competition by emailing xna[AT]tippsoc[DOT]ie . A stipulation is that the subject line should contain the following "[institution name] would like to register for XNA Ireland Challenge 2008"
March 7th, Schools, Colleges and Universities to submit the entry form, XNA Ireland Challenge entry project source code and documentation as in Get Registered.
March 13th the XNA Ireland Challenge Final will be held at Tipperary Institute, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, Ireland.

Ernest Adams Workshop 2007

Ernest Adams is a freelance game designer, writer, and teacher, working with the International Hobo Design Group. He has been in the game industry since 1989, and is the author of three books, including the university-level textbook "Fundamentals of Game Design" with Andrew Rollings. Ernest was most recently employed as a lead designer at Bullfrog Productions on the Dungeon Keeper series, and for several years before that was the audio/video producer on the Madden NFL Football line for Electronic Arts. Ernest is also the founder and first chairman of the International Game Developers' Association.

Covered all the basics of the craft of game design, covering core mechanics, gameplay, user interface design, concept art, level design, and even a small story. Began with a lecture, then we were all challenged to apply what you've learned to flesh out a new game design concept. Ernest handed out what he called dreams, which were ideas for games and in groups of four we designed the game conceptually. In teams of five each person took on the role of either, team lead, game designer, level designer, art designer and user interface designer.

Our dream was to create a game where we had to save whales from being killed for food in Japan. We designed the game as a top down flash based game where the player controlled a Green Peace Vessel called Esperanza to get in between the whaling boats and the whales.
To visually represent our game and ideas we designed a poster which we then presented to the class.

the overall day was very enjoyable, if I learnt anything it's that in the industry you'll possibly have to work on games you wouldn't piratically play yourself, one must adapt ones thinking to match the target market, this can be difficult. I also learned that group dynamics are very important and with out a like minded group of designers, many stalemate situation can occur. that's when the lead must use decisive action for the benefit of the game and not any particular member/s of the team. The lead designer has the final cut.

Overall it was a very enjoyable and creative experience.

Hardware Acquisition - Xbox360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows

Today I had to purchase a Xbox360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows, this will allow me to demo my project on PCs with the use of Xbox360 Wireless Controllers. the piece of hardware cost €24.99 but with a student discount I got it for €22.49.
This will be a great help to me as I'm coding my project and assignments to use the game pad controllers and considering the impossibility of lugging a TV & Xbox 360 with me in and out of college this is the prefect solution. It simply plugs into a USB2.0 port and runs like a dream.
Also it will allow for easier transfer of code from Xbox360 to PC, to demo in college.

Thesis Structure - AGO,PMI, CAF, OPV, FIP, APC, OPC

Thesis - Appropriate Techniques
- Conclusions to all chapters should contain PMI.

• Chapter 1: Introduction - AGO, CAF, FIP, PMI
• Chapter 2: Literature Review - CAF, OPV, PMI
• Chapter 3: Project Description - CAF, OPV, APC, PMI
• Chapter 4: Analysis Qualitative & Quantattive - PMI, AGO
  
• Chapter 5: Conclusion & Future Work - C&S, APC, PMI, OPC