Dev - Mag - 02
Dev - Mag - 02
Dev - Mag - 02
DEV.MAG
CREATE DEVELOP EXPERIENCE
18
18 044
Contents
Regulars Design
3 - Eds Note 14 - Back of a Napkin: Part1
4 - News 16 - Immersion
18 - What makes Blizzard so good?
CONTENTS
19 - What to know about Frameworks
Feature
6 - Dev.Mag Doing The Rounds
Mobile
Review 21 - Games on the go
8 - Sin
Tailpiece
Spotlight 22 - A little from I.T Intellect
10 - National Defense 2
12 - Shotbeak Games
07 05 17
As a final note, we've also started an advertising partnership To join, make suggestions
with PressX -- a fellow free e-zine, filled with previews and or just tell us were great,
reviews of the lastest games. Hopefully this will be the beginning contact:
of a long friendship and we wish them the best of luck. [email protected]
DIGITAL MAYHEM
Unfortunately, in the dying days of the Chuck craze, our own poor Higushi still
thinks about him way too much. Makes for a good comic, though
DIGITAL
STOMPIES
Thinking in C eSeminar Available
NEWS
Standard Bank IT challenge
http://book.gamemaker.nl/ .
GDC 2006
NEWS
event, plenty of resources are available on the
event's website (http://www.gdconf.com/) and
(above) The GDC 2006 held in San Francisco. Gamasutra (http://www.gamasutra.com/gdc2006/)
FEATURE
knowledge on current scientific trends. Scifest
also boasts international contacts and sponsors,
so of course Dev.Mag had to get a piece of the
pie. A stand was kindly organised for us at the
last minute and, although humble, the amount
of new subscribers we gained from the event
puts us in good stead for a more prepared effort
next year. Prepare yourselves for takeover,
foolish mortals!
We've had the incredible fortune of reeling a (above) Hey, what are you doing with that camera?
representative of IT Intellect into the Dev.Mag Our loveable Dep-Ed, desperately trying to adapt
to the bright lights and people at Scifest.
staff, and have taken full advantage of this by
draining him of as much life and energy as
possible to feed into our own humble mag. IT
Intellect (the company behind the promotion of
a new game-dev IT degree) is releasing a Nice colours, cool
website and theyve
promotional CD to show people just how easy
got a game degree
and cool game development can be. Featuring too. IT Intellect is
on this CD will be a copy of Dev.Mag itself, as definitely a winner
well as interviews andgames from members of in our books.
our community. Definitely something that
everybody here is looking forward to.
FEATURE
On the 29th of March, our rather careworn deputy gamey, making them a perfect complement for
editor flew over to Johannesburg and had the our gamedev-oriented e-zine ... and they're free,
great fortune of meeting a few of the equally too! Expect to hear a lot from them in the issues
careworn people who were responsible for to come.
creating and publishing the well-loved NAG
magazine. Although he didn't get a shot at the
indoor swimming pool or private tennis courts
that the NAG office sported, it was a great
afternoon spent chatting with the people behind Coming to an
the face of this popular mag. Dev.Mag was able agreement with
to gain some professional feedback from some PressX was
of the staff, which proved to be invaluable. Of pretty easy --
blue is our
equal importance was the stunning picture taken
favourite colour
of Bowser the (unofficial) NAG mascot!
as well.
SiN is about a man named quest is basically what it is. You zombies. Balthazar can,
Balthazar, who is killed in a car take Balthazar through hell in however, create a shield
accident. Lucifer then takes search of his soul and Lucifer. around himself, provided
Balthazar's soul in exchange You encounter a virtually youve collected enough souls
for a second chance at life. endless line of zombies and to create the shield.
Balthazar can't live a life without demons that are hell-bent [I
emotions, feelings or a soul. love the pun - Nandrew] on Teleportation is basically the
He is an abomination of gods making you a permanent same as survival, the only
law.... a sin. He must search resident in hell. difference is that when things
for Lucifer hoping to reclaim get too tough on one side of
REVIEW
his soul. Aided by an old man The main quest takes you on thbattlefield, you can teleport
named Victor, Balthazar literally a journey through many levels yourself to another part of the
goes through all levels of hell that leaves your trigger finger map, but dont think its any
in his quest to retrieve his soul twitching. The games 5 easier. You can still get
and put an end to Lucifer and weapons may seem few, but swamped in a flood of
his infinite army of demons and when dozens of demons and unrelenting demons and
zombies. zombies are rushing at you, zombies.
you dont have time to complain
about the number of weapons One of SiNs biggest problems
you have. Anything that shoots is the cross-hair. You often lose
will have to do, especially later sight of it in the heat of battle
in the game when the enemies because the colour of the
start shooting back. The quest cross-hair is similar to the
is made even more difficult colour of some of the demons,
because there are no bonuses causing you to lose a lot of life
or health pick ups that may because you dont know where
Can you spot the cross-hair? You may have really made things easier. you are aiming.
see it now at the top left, but when youre
busy killing zombies, you donthave time to Survival mode is probably the
search
most difficult mode. Youre
given all the weapons available
Modes of play and you have to try and survive
as long as you can. Within the
SiN comes with 3 modes of first 10 seconds, youll find
play: Survival, Teleportation yourself overrun by the
Zombies spawn anywhere on the field
and the main quest. The main massive flood of unfriendly and are merciless in their quest to
destroy you.
The games visuals are pretty zombies and demons is Final Comments
basic, but just like the few that they spawn randomly,
weapons, you dont have time which means the games life SiN may not have great
to complain about visuals when span is greatly increased graphics or sound, but its
youre fighting. because you wont always be difficulty compensates for the
shooting the same things in the lack thereof. Playing SiN
same place. But its also a bad reminded me of the torture tool
thing because it means called Ninja Gaiden and the
zombies can spawn right under endless nights of trying to finish
you and you wont be able to it.
do anything about them before
they get you. In the end, SiN proved itself to
be a really enjoyable game
(even though I wont be playing
Welcome to hell, Ill be your boss in this
it again any time soon).
life. Even before you can enter hell, you
must face your first major foe. Hopefully, therell be an
expansion or sequel with more
The sound is pretty bland, if it weapons, modes (a co-
exists at all. You can hear op/multiplayer mode would
music, but you dont hear your have really been great) and of
weapons when you fire them. FACT BOX course better graphics and
The control scheme is straight sound. Knet
forward. SiN adapts the Developer: Zodiac Games
movement controls of a First Released: January 2006
Person Shooter (WASD) while Current Link:
the mouse is used for aiming http://h1.ripway.com/GoNz0/375393-
SiN.rar
REVIEW
and firing.
You encounter a
virtually endless line
of zombies and demons
that are hell-bent on
making you a
permanent resident in
hell
How did you come up with the idea for Did you encounter any problems during
the original National Defense, and how production, were any gameplay changes
long did it take to create? made in the process?
National Defense was created for NAGs comp I had a problem with the development of the
03, and the theme that time around was to original National Defense, which had a very
remake an old classic game. I was, and still am, persistent bug that had me on the verge of
very fond of using the mouse for control, admitting defeat before I finally fixed it. That was
since it gives a lot more depth than the keyboard. pretty much the only problem I had throughout
That was when I thought of Missile Command, the production of the series. I had a lot more
a game I played a long time ago at an arcade, game-programming experience by the time I
and realised that it would work perfectly with my made ND2, though,gained from creating the
plans. While I changed quite a few things, like original,and from the loads of programming
making each turret unique and changing enemies techniques that I experimented with during the
from missiles to aircraft, ND was rather similar production of Commander. I believe it was thanks
to Missile Command. I made a lot of changes to my increased experience that the
to it during its production, even after comp 03, production of ND2 went off without any major
and I believe the total time I worked on it would problems.No changes were made to the game
be about 3 months, from concept to completion. as a result of programming issues. The only
How do you feel overall about the What message do you have for the game
production of this game? What have you development community of today?
SPOTLIGHT
learned while making it?
Add little touches to your games, since the
I'm rather pleased with how it turned out. It smallest details are the important ones. They
contains a lot of extra features that none of my influence the impression the game leaves on the
other games have, with more user-friendly options the player. And, most importantly, listen to the
to make the game as fun as possible to play. I people who play your games to see what they
added a lot of polish to the game, making it as like and what they dont. Then make sure that
complete and functional as possible, yet still the next time they play it, theyll find fewer things
streamlined and simple to play. to hate. DM
Shotbeak Games
Interviewing Tr00jg the creator of Shotbeak Games
How long have you been developing games? and Nanos. Both are experimental prototypes,
which means they arent totally games, but rather
Almost a year and a half. short, experimental jabs at something. My recent
completed (not totally) work is a remake of
the legendary Excite Bike.
What first inspired you to get into game
development? Do you have any particular plans or hopes
for the future?
I have the passion to create things and I love
games. Mix those together and you have game Well, at the moment, I wish to get noticed by
development! I just never did it before, because the global indie community not via the so called
SPOTLIGHT
all the code was baffling... "casual" games, but rather by something
experimental and new.
The Basics
edge lists and BSP trees to perform their
The first thing anyone needs to understand about mathematical magic on underpowered CPUs.
3D games is that its all fake. Everything you see Nowadays, we simply throw data at DirectX or
on your screen is some kind of trick. Even the OpenGL (both are APIs, Application Program
newest ultra-realistic computer generated effects Interfaces, that sit between programmers and
in your favorite movie are based on tricks. Very your 3D hardware) which do most of the magic
clever little tricks, but tricks all the same. An ideal on a graphics card to produce modern visuals.
graphics system would simulate light interacting All a 3D engine has to do now is figure out which
with the atoms that make up objects and then objects need to be displayed when and then tell
hitting the back of your eye
Good luck writing your 3D hardware how it should display them,
DESIGN
a perfect 3D world, unless youre Einstein or theres a little bit of setup involved, but well get
Stephen Hawking. to that later
But even if our favourite quantum geniuses wrote So what gets displayed?
a 3D engine, itd be incredibly slow
Because
thats what we all care about in the end, the Remember that everything in 3D is some kind
speed our games run at. We need the image on of trick. So, to display something that looks like
the screen to change between 30 and 60 times it has volume and shape on a 2D screen, we
a second to fool our brains into seeing smooth need an approximation thatll work. Enter the
animation. (Unless youre a pro-gamer, gifted humble triangle. A triangle is the least amount of
with super-human eyes and reflexes) Most games information you need to define a flat surface:
are perfectly playable if they achieve around 35 three corners, which we call vertices (singular =
frames per second (or FPS for our twitchy, light- vertex), define a plane in space; one corner is
sensitive friends) -- dip too far below 30 FPS and simply a point, two define a line and four dont
we lose our suspension of disbelief and the game always lie on the same plane; five is right out!
turns frustrating. [been watching Monty Python again, dis? -
Nandrew] To a 3D card, the order in which the
The 3D Engine corners are sent matters (its used to calculate
which direction the surface is facing) but logically
Weve all heard of the term 3D engine thats the corners can be specified in any order and
the arcane lump of code responsible for giving you still get a triangle.
us our graphics fast enough. In the days before
3D accelerator cards, unwashed programmers So, we now have a way to define a flat surface
tamed strange beasts like the S-buffer, active that can have any orientation, great. If we put
DESIGN
on the fly, like the terrain in FarCry, others are (DirectX or OpenGL) and hardware.
animated (which means their individual vertices
move around relative to each other) and still Anyone who writes software 3D engines is
others are responsible for displaying effects such crazy or Carmack.
as shadows.
Graphics = Mesh data = Triangles =
Vertices.
So graphics relies on the idea of a vertex, which
well cover next month. Dislekcia
DESIGN
button next -- they instinctively feel what to do
in the game world they are immersed in. But
then how do you achieve this? All the games I
talked about might be Triple-A titles, yet immersion
is easy to achieve using anything like Game
Maker. Look below. It's not too hard, you just
need to be a bit creative.
Storyline
The cast of Final Fantasy providing
Creating a world which your player cares about gamers with epic storylines.
and becomes emotionally attached to can really
draw them into thinking only about how to save Gameplay
this world they are playing in. Another way is
to create very believable characters with strong Producing gameplay which makes the player
personalities who steadily change and mature have to concentrate so that they are only thinking
as the game goes on. If you can get the player about what they need to do next in the game is
to become emotionally attached to the character effective. However, note that to get them to
and feel a connection with them, then you've concentrate and get all their attention doesn't
achieved in immersing the player in another necessarily mean you need to make the game
world. hard. By giving the player options like choosing
different paths to take in a short space of time
It's not too hard, you just need or making the player need to work out strategies
to be a bit creative. and think ahead will place their mind in the game
world. The Artificial Intelligence in your game With this technique the player has to rely on their
doesn't have to be super complex, keep it simple own personal intuition to tell how much energy
with depth and make sure your little monsters they have left just like real life.
don't do something dumb like walking into a wall.
Theres not a more painful reminder that it's not These are just a few simple techniques, you can
real than when your opponent does something take those points much further. Just remember
plain stupid. You can also create situations where that when designing a game every element you
everything goes quiet, so the player feels a false add should only make the game more enjoyable
sense of security and then BAM! something and assist in immersing the player in a different
jumps out and the player will be so surprised that world. Insomniac
they are sucked back into the game world and
will only be thinking, Aah! I need to take this
thing out!
Graphics
DESIGN
(above) The mighty Oblivion and FarCry, two benchmarks in the world of computer game graphics.
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What makes Blizzard so good?
With most games released over the last couple of years, when you have installed the game
after buying it, you can expect to find a patch on the internet for that game already. A good
example is the nightmare that is Battle Field 2. With every patch matching 120 MB of downloads,
and an extra load of bugs, it is no wonder I dont play this game anymore
Okay then why is it I still play any of their games will agree. copies worldwide. With the
Diablo 2 today since its release But what does this mean to the same mind set as Diablo 2, just
in 1996? Why can I not find Indie Game Developer in us? on a much larger scale, it is a
one person who plays games This should give us a few huge success.
that has not played at least one helping guidelines. Less is
of Blizzards titles, and loves More Only add if it adds to the
it? What makes them so game play. At the same time,
special? think detail. What makes your
game shine?
Its quite simple, actually. Two World of Warcraft
DESIGN
things make Blizzard games The second thing about
timeless. The first is polish. blizzard games is replayability. So remember, make your
Blizzards games shine with Diablo 2 has random maps, game fun to play, but always
workmanship and detail. random monsters and, like make it fun to play the second
most RPGs, random loot. It and third and fourth time as
also has 3 difficulty levels well. Keep it random. Make it
appropriate for the levels so that you dont get tired of
gained when playing the the game while play testing it.
previous acts. It has a great
story, but the game doesnt rely Not everyone has hundreds of
on it. When you reach the level employees and million dollar
cap, it has loads of items left budgets, but then again
Diablo 2 for you to find to make the companies that do dont get it
ultimate character. right either. The most popular
There is no patch needed, or online FPS game ever was
flaws in an initial releases. They made by a modding team, and
work smoothly on the systems they created something new
specified on the box. There is and replayable.
no clutter, no unnecessary
content in game, and It was called Counter-strike,
everything is there for a reason. and I bet they didnt think of a
They run fast, they demand job at Valve when they made
little bandwidth (for multiplayer) World
Worldof
of Warcraft
Warcraft the mod -- they were thinking
and are simply brilliantly put of how much fun they were
together. But you already knew This is exactly why World of going to have playing this
that, anyone who has played Warcraft has sold over 5 million game. Himmler
By using a framework creating a new games the way you normally use to develop games your
becomes a whole lot easier. The framework gives new games will be so much easier to develop.
you the advantage of having a large part of the Game Maker has already developed the structure
game already developed. By following the required to start developing. In many ways the
DESIGN
structure of the framework and by following the Game Maker tutorials define the methods that
methods defined for making use of the framework need to be followed when using the framework.
it makes it quicker and easier to add functionality
into the game without worrying about Typically aspects of game development that
redeveloping the basic structure each time. Game should be included in a framework are: the game
Maker has a very well defined structure of using loop, the management of game states, the loading
images (sprites) along with objects in scenes and management of images and sounds, and
(rooms). where possible the basic structure of a sprite
engine or something similar. By having common
methods to manage these aspects of the game
within your framework it means that you can
reuse the code instead of re-developing it each
time. Game Maker defines these aspects of game
development in its own way.
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fRAMeWorKs
continued
Whenever you start a new game development The Game Maker framework is very good in
its time to pull out the framework and fill in the supporting a sprite based game involving
blanks. Typically this would be to first redefine numerous interactions between the objects,
the game states you need and the triggers that however when it comes to developing a MMOG
will move the game between the various states. the Game Maker does not deliver the sort of
This gives you a game structure that delivers the framework that you would need.
outline of the game you want. By using the
triggers to help structure the relevant portions of Frameworks save time and effort, they make
the game you can concentrate on only the parts rapid game development a reality. In some cases
of the game you want to. Later the other game a good framework can simplify game
states can be filled in allowing a simpler and development to just a few lines of code. Go
more logical development path. Game Maker ahead, make your framework and let it work for
does this in a very structured way. When opening you, or use the predefined framework that Game
a new game maker project you immediately have Maker gives you. Cairnswm
the game loop defined as well as support for
image management, object movement and
through the creation of multiple room even state
management.
DESIGN
It is also important to understand that a framework
can be used for more than just structuring the
way you develop a game. A framework can be
developed to support multi developer games by
structuring the framework to support individuals
working on various smaller sections of the code.
A framework like this is based on well defined
interface between the various components of the
(above) Game Makers Global setting screen.
system. Providing options for quick and easy game
development.
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MOBILE GAMES
DEVELOPMENT
How is this possible? Well, with If you know how to use Flash, if it have lots of graphics, you
your cellphone of course. you could choose that as a tool might need different versions
Modern cellphones are actually as well. Many new phones are to cater for different screens.
extremely powerful little Flash enabled, and it's support Another big difference is input-
computers, and are capable of is growing, however unlike you obviously don't have a full
running some great games, Java, the tools are not free. keyboard and mouse, and you
similar to those you'd create have to design around this.
with GameMaker. Mobile game These challenges can also
development has become big add to the fun though!
business over the last few
That's it for now, but if this
MOBILE
years.
sounds like your thing, check
Of course we're not interested out some of the links below, as
in the 2 billion cellphone users well as googling some of the
worldwide, we just want to following: J2ME, Flash Lite,
make games for our own Brew. Happy hunting! Flint
enjoyment and for that of our
There are some unique
buddies and family.
challenges when creating
www.j2me.org
mobile games, for example
www.jbenchmark.com
storage space is limited and
www.java.sun.com
you have to be smart about
www.smallfrymobile.com
how you use images and
sounds.The many different
The mobile game 'Abyss' displayed at various resolutions (96x65, 128x128 and 176x208).
TAILPIECE
offered their knowledge and expertise in their
field to the public at no charge! Tetris, probably one of the most well known games on
earth. We are going to attempt to recreate this awesome
game and learn some of the DirectX components that
IT Intellect is looking to promoting and supporting can help us on the way.
the Game Development sector in South Africa
at all levels, as anything we can do to help grow WORKING TOWARDS BREAKOUT
this small community will be beneficial to the
DATE: 24th of June 2006
industry in the long run.
Dropping blocks was fun but we need to get some real
IT Intellect are very excited as our first intake for interaction going. Breakout was a game that allowed
the player to control a paddle and to prevent the ball
Game Development students of the UAT from dropping. In addition to not dropping the ball, the
curriculum will be joining us in June 2006 at our player had to hit blocks the resulted in bonuses dropping
from the blocks that were hit.
Bryanston Campus. They will be overseen by
UAT Graduate; class of 2004 Scott Snider who
will be the first of many UAT lecturers to be WORKING TOWARDS PACMAN
relocated to our beautiful country to assist in the DATE: 29th of July 2006
education and skill development of aspiring local
game developers. This coupled with the Hotlabs Pacman introduced some very interesting concepts
such as Artificial Intelligence and maps. Although
will make for an exciting year ahead, one filled Pacman only has one map, we still need to do boundary
with many fresh ideas and new experiences. checks.
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