Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Now that the holidays are behind me (almost!), I was able to get some work done on Unlink.
Something that’s been driving me crazy ever since September is the way I’d written the game. Oh, it was sloppy. Yes, it was. The game logic was all wrapped up in the UI, and there was a disgusting little state machine holding it all together. It was finally time to rip that game logic out and move it into its own service.
So, after I left work early today, I spent a little time refactoring my code. At the same time, I also ended up making some improvements in the way that the UI dealt with the game logic, and now I’m much happier with the results.
In other news, my friend WILL be doing audio work for me. He’s sent me a sample, which will be integrated into Revision 39, assuredly. Another thing which will definitely happen in Revision 39: a Tutorial page.
How Happy New Year to Unlink!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Like I said last time, I’ve been sick for the last few days. So, I’ve not done much work on the game. I’m a little disappointed in myself, actually.
Just now, I decided to work on the Content project. All I really did was reorganize the files into folders. That WAS in preparation for some new art to take the place of the progress indicator, so I guess it’s not a complete loss. And I’ve started talks with a friend of mine, to help me out with some music for the game.
How uninteresting…
I’m not feeling well today.
I got audio working correctly, abandoning XACT completely. Then I started working on the resolution concerns.
See, I have a beautifully-crafted static image as a mask on my foreground. But, for whatever reason, the edges are cut off when it’s displayed on my TV. If I scale the image to the TitleSafeArea, it’s visibly too small. And I can’t modify the TV signal (you know, in case it’s a zoom/widezoom issue).
I only have one other HDTV in my house to try with, so I’ll probably give that a shot tomorrow. However, if that doesn’t work out, I guess I’ll need to travel to see if I can figure out what’s up.
How confounding…
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Unlink is now compatible with Game Studio 3.0, and .NET 3.5.
I’ve also removed the formerly-handy QuickXAP, thanks to Game Studio 3.0 not acting like audio is an act of the devil.
How modern!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Well, I’m not sure what I expected. However, Unlink was not a winner for the Dream Build Play 2008 competition.
Even though that got me down, I started looking at some of the games that made it into the Community Games and I thought “hey, I can do better than that!”
So, without further ado…
How immediate!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Well, it looks like the contest was extended by a few days. So, after a short rest, I took advantage of the situation and updated my audio components. They needed some work, as there was no way to stop the sounds from playing. Also, I said “um” a lot, and there wasn’t a “you didn’t succeed” sound.
Anyway, the game file was updated on DBP just now, with 2 hours to spare. I’m pretty pleased with the final, final product. ;)
How opportunistic!
Monday, September 22, 2008
The final revision.
All artifacts are checked in, and have been submitted to DBP.
This has been a great learning experience, and I look forward to making my next game with XNA!
How exciting!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Add data feedback for win/loss
Add functionality to support multiple codes per “level” (difficulty-based)
Get Gamer Tag + Picture (untested)
Render the whole left side of the board, for that matter, including timer & progress
Change confirmation quit screen to score printout screen
Bugfixes, and maybe more…
I’m missing the XACT audio stuff. I’m going to take a break, take my dog for a walk, and then come back and take a crack at it.
Update (10:35 pm):
Thanks to Nick Gravelyn’s tutorial on using QuickXAP, I was able to integrate audio rapidly into my solution. One wonders how the XNA team managed to let something like easy audio integration slip so far past them. So, as of now, I have some intro music for the story screen, a sound effect for moving the cursor, and the initial tutorial intro that i’d hoped to put in.
As far as I’m concerned, I’m done! Time to package it up, and start writing my docs!
How complete!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
- Update game logic to stop detecting false positives (game works great, now!)
- Add data feedback for win/loss
- Figure out some way to use the difficult levels, or take them out (duration of gameplay)
- Add functionality to support multiple codes per “level” (difficulty-based)
- Get Gamer Tag + Picture (untested)
- Render the whole left side of the board, for that matter, including timer & progress
- Change confirmation quit screen to score printout screen
- Bugfixes, and maybe more…
Update (9:16am):
Revision 28 has an additional feature: visible timer. it’s interesting how that jacks with your perception of the puzzle. This is the first version of Unlink that would be a submission candidate. I’m looking forward to having someone else test it.
How monumental!