MatthewDoyleArt.com Blog

I’ve taken a greater interest in becoming an engineer lately. I have written code in some form another since I was 10, from BASIC games, to Action Scripted Flash sites, to PHP based web sites tied to MySQL databases. I recently bought about 400 dollars worth of programming books on topics ranging from C++ to Java to DirectX. My goal is to become good enough at writing game code that I can do it for a living, becomming a ‘triple-threat’ as it were (art, design, code). I’m using the same process I used to become a 3D Artist. Lots of self-learning, book reading, and hands-on practice. I wrote my first game in C++ last weekend in a few hours. It is nothing special, but everyone has to start somewhere. The game is about 200 lines of code, and makes use of an object oriented approach. I wrote the game from scratch - the only snippet of code I had to copy was one line to generate a random number (I had no idea how to do that yet). I put the game’s interface in the main source file and separated out the game’s logic into a header file. This allows for easy editing and reusable code. Currently, the game runs 10 times then exits, keeping a running score. I plan to implement an escape key that will allow you to exit the game, which will otherwise run indefinitely. I compiled the release using static link libraries, so everything needed to run the game is in the EXE. Feel free to download it here:

Download Rock Paper Scissors

I plan to begin investigating graphics programming next, focusing mainly on 2D at first. I’m going to be purchasing the XNAcreator’s service from XBox Live, which allows you to create, debug, and share games on XBox Live. Surprisingly only 99 bucks for a year’s subscription.

So I played Vanguard some more this weekend (up to 37 hours total now as you can see from my XFire link) to the detriment of several tasks I needed to work on, and I have to say that, while many of my original comments still ring true, I am finding myself liking the game more and more. I think the key is to get past the first 10 levels (the “newbie” experience). Once you go beyond that, things change drastically gameplay wise. Suddenly, everyone is grouping, the non-instanced dungeon runs start happening, and the world begins to feel much larger. I’m up to level 13 now with my Goblin rogue (I’m on the RP server - name’s Needles - look me up if you play), and I’ve started having my fair share of deaths. Death is no trivial matter as it tends to be in games like WoW - you lose some XP and may find that your corpse is just too far into a dungeon to try to get it back. If this is the case, you’ll end up using one of the altars to summon your corpse and collect any gear on it.

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The term ‘easy to learn – hard to master’ comes to mind when I think about Mercury Meltdown Remix for the Play Station 2. Another good description for this simple, but challenging game would be simulation gameplay done right. Mercury Meltdown Remix (MMR for short) is just the kind of fun and addictive game that captures the casual marketplace – something you can pick up and play for a few minutes at a time, having great fun in the process.

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