Coke And Code - Java Games and Games Development -

Demo Writing Rules of Thumb

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:54:17 +0000

1) Always provide on screen instructions early on. Never know who's going to get hold of your demo when you're not there to tell them how to play.

2) Visual and physical FX changes should be over done. Make it really obvious that you've change the friction or you've added dust particles.

3) No visual change should be digital, smooth changes look more polished for next to no work early on.

4) Make it look "ok". While concept/prototypes don't need to look pretty, when you're trying to solicit feedback from people who arn't paid to do it reasonable looking demos get more interest and more useful feedback.

Here Is a Test Page

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:06:02 +0000

Hello world, here is some information:

Guns are bad, mmmmm kay.

Kev

The Games Index

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 22:59:00 +0000

Typhoon	Atari Tempest inspired on with a bright blue tunnel and yellow claw.	Shooter
Tilt 4K	The 4K inspiration for Tiltilation. Tilt the board, roll the ball around the maze to get the tokens and get to the exit.	Physical
Keepie Up	A creation for whiling away those hours in the office. Keepie up, click the ball to flick it into the air. Click it again to keep it there. How many taps can you do before the ball hits the ground?	Physical
Trooper	Paratrooper - the cause of my lost youth. Aim, shoot, stop the troopers getting close enough plant their bombs.	Shooter

Hulk

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 21:24:08 +0000

Hulk is my second attempt at a game based around the Games Workshop classic SpaceHulk. I'm intending to support the basic rules, 2D and 3D views, all using Java. I'm using JME as my rendering engine.

Check out the project progress in the development diary. You can see some images from both the development and art in progress over in the gallery.

If you want to try the game you can find try the Webstart here. Warning: Development is an unknown state at any given time.

There's also a Collda model test hanging around at the moment.

Java Games Developers

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 00:24:23 +0000

Apart being friendly, helpful people, the following people are working on useful and interesting projects in Java gaming..

Caspian Prince (princec) - focusing on highly polished 2D games in Java over at PuppyGames. (also see LWJGL)

elias_naur - A member of OddLabs who have produced the wonderful Tribal Trouble 3D RTS and are rumoured to be working on their next project. (also see LWJGL)

Mazon - A maintainer of the popular LWJGL library - the man to talk to when a new build is out.

Mojomonkey - Now works for NCSoft but still working on the Java Monkey Engine scenegraph based games engine.

Endolf/Jez - Maintainer of the JInput libraries for game controller support in java and long time devotee of his project Dark Void

DarkProphet - Initiater of JME-Physics, and in the process of building the Volatile Engine, a new technology focused scenegraph based engine.

Matthias Mann - Building the Worldscape system, a terrain and rendering engine that utilises shaders heavily for peak performance.

Shawn Kendall - An instructor at the Full Sail games development college. Also the developer of Cosmic Birdie a kick ass racing in game in progress.

Markus Persson - Developer of Wurm Online and all round java coding genius.

Did I forget you? Did I get it wrong? Well, let me know then!

Games

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 16:06:08 +0000

These games require Java which is available from the Java.com website.

Typhoon

Typhoon is fast paced shooter based on the classic game "Tempest". Guide your claw around the playing field shooting the bag guys before they reach you. Use your bombs sparingingly.

Play Now

Gravity Battle

A classic gravity thruster game - drift your ship through the caverns taking out all the evil aliens within. Complete the missions, but try not damage the ship - the boss gets annoyed with all the repaints!

Play Now

Roll 4K

Taking second place in the 2006 Java 4K programming competition, this tiny (4096 bytes) game has proved to be addictive fun. Simple physics allow to bounce the ball around the levels, grabbing the tokens and getting out - if it were only that simple!

Play Now

Tower Puzzle

Twist the tower, Twist the rings - match the colours to make the block disappear. Meet your quota to complete the level! A concept package for a game that turned into some simple fun. Originally an entry for the Java 16K contest that never happened.

Play Now

T4XI

The winner of the 2005 Java 4K programming competition - again a tiny simple game. Drive your T4XI round Grand Theft Auto style streets taking your fare from point A to point B. Watch out for the terrible city drivers!

Play Now

Ball 4K

Another ball rolling game - another 4k game - this time in 3D! Guide the ball around, toggle all the switches and exit the level. Try not to fall off - and don't forget to jump!

Play Now

Games

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 16:06:08 +0000

These games require Java which is available from the Java.com website.

Like the games? Something doesn't work? Looking for a games developer? Drop me a mail!

Rowgem

An odd twist on the traditional gem matching game. Remove gems freely, but match the patterns displayed. The quicker you match it, the more points you get. How many points can you get in the 4 minutes allowed.

Play Now

Cute Planet Puzzle

Lost Garden run challenges, where they give away art resources in the hope that people will make interesting games. Well, here's one. Push the gems around to clear them from the board with your cute like player. Heard it before? Sound like Sokoban? Well it is, except with a 3rd dimension! Seemingly simple levels can take longer than you think.

Play Now

Toy Blocks

Play with the blocks, match the pattern, complete the level. Or just play balance, stack the blocks high and don't let the fall. Don't like structure? Just play free play. One for the little kiddies but fun for us oldies too!

Play Now

Kitipong

A game that plays like Bejewled, took 8 hours to write, resource and setup and is an example for the Slick games library. Add in cool oriental cats with relaxing music and you've got a gentle winner!

Play Now

Tiltilation

Tilt the board, roll the ball, collect the tokens and get to the exit. Simple? Factor in moving platforms, pin ball bouncers, electric fences and all that jazz - it gets way more fun! Check it out - if you like the demo why not buy the full version? It's great value at only $6.99!

Play Now

Shrooms!

New! - Now with built in Level Editor!

Shrooms is my entry for the Super Mario Programming Contest. Click the question marks to release the shrooms - guide them to their destination stars by activating the environment and placing tools. A unique tangent to the mario themed game contest.

Play Now

Typhoon

Typhoon is fast paced shooter based on the classic game "Tempest". Guide your claw around the playing field shooting the bag guys before they reach you. Use your bombs sparingly.

Play Now

Gravity Battle

Play Now

Roll 4K

Taking second place in the 2006 Java 4K programming competition, this tiny (4096 bytes) game has proved to be addictive fun. Simple physics allow you to bounce the ball around the levels, grabbing the tokens and getting out - if it were only that simple!

Play Now

Tower Puzzle

Twist the tower, Twist the rings - match the colours to make the blocks disappear. Meet your quota to complete the level! A concept package for a game that turned into some simple fun. Originally an entry for the Java 16K contest that never happened.

Play Now

T4XI

Play Now

Ball 4K

Another ball rolling game - another 4k game - this time in 3D! Guide the ball around, toggle all the switches and exit the level. Try not to fall off - and don't forget to jump!

Play Now

TakeDown!

TakeDown was my first attempt at something I thought at the time was original. Turns out someone else has had the idea before - and their names were PopCap! This version is still a lot of fun, suck the blocks down - spit them out to match the colours. Use the bombs for clearing areas and collect the letters for your BONUS!.

Play Now

Linux Rules

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 20:18:46 +0000

Linux Rules - Linux Rules - Linux Rules - Linux Rules

OK? Everyone alright now? :)

Good.

Linux is my Hair Cut

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:13:58 +0000

Strange realisation of a parallel - so obscure that you'd think I'd been taking copious amounts of dodgy substances - which of course in this over policed country, I certainly would never do :)

My hair cut is - um - bad. I've always had rubbish hair, but I've used a simple rule for the longest time. In general I leave my hair to look really really bad. People get used to it - a collegue I'd only met once before said when he saw me with my newly trimmed hair on arrival to the states - "I knew it was you, but somehow I remember your hair being .. um .. bigger". Such a diplomatic gent. Anyway, back to the point (what's left of it) - I let it look awful - that way when I need to look tidy I don't have to do much. Add tidy clothes. Put a comb through the hair, brush it to the side or simply get it cut - everyone notices! "Oh, you look smart today" or "Got an interview?" - simply because I've come from having really really really bad hair, to almost average hair. Ok, bare with me here, I have a point.

Linux is touted as the best thing by so many people. It's great at this, it does this really well. When questioned about the more basic points - usability, accountability, install/upgrade procedures - most of the Linux-Pals will say "yeah, well, it's not quite there yet, but look at where it was before". Linux has come from having really really bad install/upgrade/usability to having an average (or in worst case, overly ornate) system - and as users we're meant to jump up and down, get excitied - screaming "look how far Linux has come! Isn't it great!" - well, um, no. Linux is as any operating system available today - a choice of the user. It stacks up against Windows and MacOSX (and the other less home-popular OSes) and has to be judged in that context.

It doesn't matter where it comes from, or the trials and tribulations it's had along the way - it's still at best an average hair cut :)

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 19:06:33 +0000

I recently got webalizer working for the sub-domains of the server cokeandcode lives on - which in turn means I can now see statistics for the site. For a while I've been able to get referrers from the drupal powered bits - which have always made interesting reading to me - but these new stats are more detailed and let me really understand whats going on.

As it turns out, my little coke and code site here gets around 600 visits a day (constituting around 5000 hits and 1800 pages). Around 100 visits a day are bots (everyone wave to the bots now). The rest I can only assume are people with very little to do with their day :)

Looking at the stats I'll probably get round to writing some more tutorials soon - seems they're pretty popular. Thanks to everyone that pops by - always nice to get comments on the blog - though for reference that doesn't give anyone the right to post foul language or offensive content! (I removed 2 last month). If you've got any suggestions for tutorials that you think I might be able to cope with - let me know.

Hate mail of course goes to the normal address.

Indie Gamers - Mostly non-Americans?

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 05:51:03 +0000

Not sure if this is a just a coincidence, but I've chatted/posted to a fair amount of indie game developers - it might be just me but theres seems to be a severe lack of Americans among them. I wonder why this could be?

- Maybe its because the in the home computer hacking days (speccy, c64, vic, ql) most of the games were being thrown out by non-Americans? I suspect this drives part of the reason there are so many hobbiests?

- More likely its becaues there are far fewer opportunities for budding games developers outside of the US (and the far east of course).

- Maybe the american culture drives towards the big bucks - not the small achievements?

- Maybe its just a conicidence, and there are tonnes of US indies out there - just they don't talk to me :)

Oh well, just a thought..

Problems with GCJ

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 15:53:37 +0000

GCJ is the answer to a lot of my issues with casual java games development. It packs things down nice and small and makes the games instantly accessible.

However, it comes at a cost currently... The garbage collection (GC) in GCJ is awfully slow - it locks everything else and destroy the smooth framerate of the games. This is pretty frustrating.

Its taught me to be alot of more defensive in my use of garbage now though - my code is way way tighter because of the issue. I wrote a small sprite test recently and found that due to my recent experience my natural way of doing things had changed significantly - in that my sprite test was completely garbage free. Stunning.

Moreover, its taught me another little trick. When you write a game you always add a Frames Per Second (FPS) counter early on - this allows you to notice big performance drops as you add new features - keeps you informed. I've now added a memory delta counter - this indicates the change in memory usage per second - by default. In a similar manner to the FPS counter this gives me an easy way of tracking if/when I add new garbage constraints.

Roll on Tilt! We're getting there!

File Leeching

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 03:48:08 +0000

So, I'm setting up my game site.. beginning to track stats on downloads and registrations. Its all very interesting. Got my webalizer working thanks to Cudeso and I'm checking through the stats. Wierd I think - my php script tracking tells me the windows exe has been downloading 16 times in the last 3 days (not much - but I'm not advertising yet) - but webalizer stats tell me its been download directly at least 13 times in the last 5 hours. Something isn't right here - turns out this is a common phenom called "File Leeching". The executable gets leeched off onto another site and they use it to attact visitors and hence help their advertising.

Great! Except I want downloaders to come through my site - I want them to come back and buy the game eventually. I also don't like people going round my stats system - most irritating. Right - time to fix it. First I move my actual downloads out of the web directory somewhere that standard downloads can't get. Next I change my download.php to do this:

$file = $pathToDownloads."/".$filename; $len = filesize($file);header("content-type: application/save"); header("content-length: $len"); header("content-disposition: attachment; filename=".$filename); $fp = fopen($file, "r"); fpassthru($fp);

And suddenly theres no way to access my downloads without going through my script. They can of course still link to my script but at least my tracking is still in place. I could of course then block it further by only allow the referrer to be that of my own page - though I hear this isn't safe - so for now this should work. Sometimes PHP is just the greatest system :)

Pretty Neat!

MMORPGs for social analysis

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 03:21:49 +0000

Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplay Games (MMORPGs) are game system in which hundreds, some times thousands, of players take part in adventures within a large peristent world. They've actually been around an awfully long time, played mostly by us geeky types, however we're starting to see a real influx of your average gamer in to the popular MMORPG worlds.

Many people have speculated that this fantasy worlds could be used for social experiments and to draw conclusions about the rules that govern the way with live while remaining within a safe environment. While I'm sure its true, I'm more interested in what the rise of MMORPGs says about society development in the real world.

The fact is that more and more people are being enticed by online lifes. Why is that? Some people speculate that it gives the players a chance to live a life they wouldn't otherwise... I mean who gets to be a ogre slaying half dwarf in real life? (well, ok, I'm sure there are a few). Personally I think what the majority of people get out of online lifes is the ability to say and act how they want in a "safe environment". What does that say about us as a group?

It says we're scared of each other. We're more and more scared of living in our real world, more terrorist attacks, more chavs, less respect for each other - less respect for the difference between us - less acceptance or even awareness of new idea and morals. So, we're beginning to hide - in environments in which we think we don't need to be scared. We can do what we want and if its starting going the wrong way - logoff. Choose a different name or choose a different game.

While I'm happy that MMORPGs are more and more popular - I also think it indicates that our society is on a downward slope into fear. And as all geeks know, fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. etc

The moral of the story - get in on the MMORPG game now - make lots of money - stop worrying about the rest of the world. Oh.. and when you're up there in your penthouse, enjoy the best things in life, feel free to chuck me down a super model or two :)

Process for the sake of Process

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 03:08:14 +0000

Process is a good idea. Process makes things traceable, reproducable and raises the quality.

Process is a bad idea. Process slows us down, gets in the way and increases the paper work.

I like process - it irks me when people spout that all process gets in the way. Bad process is bad, mkay? Good process is powerful stuff. However, good process can also be worthless if the people involved don't buy into the idea. Whats the point in ensuring that a requirements document is produced - if no one cares what goes in it? Why bother to ensure unit tests are written if the developers in question don't agree with it and can't be bothered to fully test things. Why both to have document and code reviews if the reviewers don't turn up or don't bother commenting?

Isn't it probably worse to have a process thats payed lip service as compared to no process at all? At with no process you know where you're at - up shit creek. With a pretend process that nobody buys into you're screwed but you don't know it til your face to face with the customer.

So - how do we get into this state? Well, as much as I hate to believe it, I'm starting to believe in all that airy fairly company anaylsis that used to be spouted at me in Lucent days.

Companies have a culture. That culture is defined by the people that exist within the company. No matter how positive/attentive someone when they enter a company they will eventually become part of that culture. Fighting company culture is like being the odd kid in school - you know the problem is the rest of the world not you but that doesn't make taking the beating everyday any more acceptable.

So - what can be done about it? Changes to culture take dramatic steps or a massive number of subtle influences. I suppose you can just keep trying to do the right thing and take the heat, or toe the acceptable line and keep propogating the problem.

Obviously there are different scales of these things. Some places I've worked had a tonne of process that was abided by - this did slow us down pointlessly. One place I worked had no process, no cross checks, no nothing. Fast development but a series of embarrasing mishaps infront of customers :( Currently, where I work is ok. They have some process, its not too impedeing and the general populace are getting better at getting involved. We'll just have to see where it goes.

Well, that went no where - ranting isn't what it used to be - grrr!