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Category Archives: DreamBuildPlay 2008

Revision 21

I worked on the input stuff this morning.  It’s interesting that none of the examples about input handling show off the ability to compare button states with the previous, so as not to repeat – very quickly – the button signal’s capture.  By using a simple comparison, though, i can short-circuit the button press & […]

Revision 20

This revision is mostly art objects, with a little code thrown in for good measure.  I’ve been extremely busy with real work, and so I’ve not been able to devote the time I would have liked.  Now that the art is mostly complete, I can begin work on the actual gameplay screen. My next action […]

Day 22

I found my first bug today.  It looks like the transition manager that i set up works perfectly for abstracting where to go between screens, until you have two directions you can go from a particular screen. I’ve burned about 3 hours tonight trying to figure out how to keep the abstraction without adding extra […]

Day 21

I added input handlers, so when you press “A”, the splash & story screens each skip ahead one screen. Also, I’ve settled on Courier New for the story font; maybe the game font too.  I spent a little time tonight aligning all of the text to how i want it.  As it stands, it’s not […]

Day 20

Tonight, I intend to work on an input handler for the StoryScreen, such that pressing any button during the story will skip you straight to the main menu. However, I have to work through my pictures from PAX first. How nostalgic! Follow-up (11:20pm): I actually didn’t work on the input handler tonight.  I finished up […]

Day 14-19

I went to the Penny Arcade Expo this last weekend.  That was a lot of fun.  The XNA booth was pretty anemic, however, compared to some of the other shops that set up there.  It really surprised me that there was no DBP presence. Also, I was surprised by the lack of basic functionality that […]

Day 13

Today is my birthday! Also, I’ll be looking into IntermediateSerializer for my XML needs.  I know I have a working solution, but I’d rather use the XML technology that’s available.  ;) How pedantic! Follow-up (9:15pm): I implemented the IntermediateSerializer in my game saves; it’s very nice.  I’ll be using the ContentReader/Writer paradigm for the Story […]

Day 12

Looks like a Content pipeline is going to be the easiest way to create my story screen.  I was surprised to see how similar the Content model is to simple Serialization.  Anyway, it should be as easy as creating a StoryPage class, or something similar.  Then, load them all up into a list from the […]

Day 11

Today, I went to a fish fry instead of doing work. However, while I was at the fish fry, I had some interesting ideas for driving my main menu & story screens.  I’m going to try to use XML! The only way I’ve found so far to drive the main menu via XML is if […]

Day 10

I appreciate the irony of posting two days after I said I’ll try posting daily. Yesterday, I did not get much done.  I sent an email reply to the artist, clarifying a point.  She definitely made more progress than me, yesterday. Today, I shall strive to outpace her, however.  I have a standard workday ahead […]