Developer Blogs
August 24, 1998
The Code Zone Trading Post is open!
Well, it seems that I'm getting quite an accumulation of stuff that I'm not using. Lots of it is free stuff that I got at the CGDC, and I have no use for. Some of it is stuff that I got mailed to me, and I'm still not sure why. Some of it is just stuff that I'm no…
Well, it seems that I'm getting quite an accumulation of stuff that I'm not using. Lots of it is free stuff that I got at the CGDC, and I have no use for. Some of it is stuff that I got mailed to me, and I'm still not sure why. Some of it is just stuff that I'm no…
August 17, 1998
Awright, I'm home. Finally got to take a much-needed vacation with the wife and minivan. Traveled to Nevada and Wyoming, attending a buncha amateur high-power rocket launches and fireworks shows. Amazingly enough, I did manage to return with all of my fingers. Sorry about not letting you know that …
August 03, 1998
Finally did a lot of much-needed additions to the official Code Zone Web Site. It now has screen shots and info from all of the games up to the present.
I'll probably be in housekeeping mode for the time being, as I've got a lot of rough edges to smooth off. A lot's been done, but there's still a lo…
I'll probably be in housekeeping mode for the time being, as I've got a lot of rough edges to smooth off. A lot's been done, but there's still a lo…
July 31, 1998
Oops! Got going in so many directions that the diary took a back-seat. Here's a late-breaking update.
Yes indeed, I was chosen as Gamasutra's Geek of the Week, starting today. I figured "what the hell, it'll get my name out there", so I filled out the application. Haven't gotten much feedback so far…
Yes indeed, I was chosen as Gamasutra's Geek of the Week, starting today. I figured "what the hell, it'll get my name out there", so I filled out the application. Haven't gotten much feedback so far…
July 20, 1998
All the basics for Invaders from Beyond! are now in place. The outer game logic is now working (completing levels, destroying ships, ending the game, etc). I've got aliens that get meaner as the game goes on and about a half-dozen different missiles dropping from the sky. I've got aliens that "get …
July 17, 1998
Invaders from Beyond! is coming along well. I haven't really improved the graphics (other than the missile bitmaps), but a lot of the behaviors are in place. The aliens can now descend, collide with the player, and fire back. They currently only fire back randomly, but that'll be improved as time g…
July 14, 1998
First off, a big congratulations to John Munsch et al. for the first birthday of devgames.com! FWIW, I used to be a coworker of Mr. Munsch during the early days of Multimedia Windows 3.0 over at Tandy. Mr. Munsch got the cool sexy multimedia projects, while I was consigned to the doldrums of the do…
July 10, 1998
For my next trick, I decided to do an arcade game. Since I like adding twists to the classics, I thought it'd be fun to see what I could do with Space Invaders. My working title is Invaders From Beyond!, because Killer Alien Entities from Beyond the Reaches of Human Existence didn't fit on the titl…
July 07, 1998
Finally putting the finishing turtle-wax on Backgammon. It turned out to be a bit more of a can-o-worms than I thought it'd be, but it did turn out rather nicely. I also got a few good comments from my number 1 playtester and wife.
I had a chance to draw three more Backgammon boards over the weekend…
I had a chance to draw three more Backgammon boards over the weekend…
June 29, 1998
Still working on Backgammon. It's pretty-much on schedule, but there are tons of nasty little movement rules, the game itself takes place in three different stages (playing, racing, and going home), and the home and bar have to be treated differently from rest of the board. All in all, it ain't the…
June 19, 1998
Sorry it's been a bit. Been moving a couple of different directions lately.
I started on a Backgammon game. The user interface is close to being done, and I think I know how I'm gonna do the AI. Dice make a game easier in ways, and harder in others. Backgammon's also a pain because the players have …
I started on a Backgammon game. The user interface is close to being done, and I think I know how I'm gonna do the AI. Dice make a game easier in ways, and harder in others. Backgammon's also a pain because the players have …
June 09, 1998
Arcade Poker is basically done, and Shelly's claiming that it's one of the better ones in the set. We'll see. I'm probably gonna spend today putting sound-support into some of the recent stuff I've written. I usually forget to put all of the zany beeps and clicks into the games, and I end up having…
June 04, 1998
Well, here's the first cut of my new front-page version web pages. I've just about got the hang of FP. So far, I've been happy with it. The biggest problem I had was removing all the weird table stuff that ATrax did. ATrax, for some unknown reason, liked to put just about everything into tables. My…
June 01, 1998
Just a couple of quick notes today. I finally found an automated website updater that I like. You know, one of those programs that'll automatically update a web site via FTP, synchronizing it with a local directory on your page-drawing machine. I run 3 web pages, so this is a long-overdue utility f…
May 30, 1998
Sorry it took a bit between updates this time. Been busy putting the finishing touches on Kizbot. I think I've got all of the pieces in place except for the sounds. Sounds for me are always an afterthought anyway.
For my next game, I've been thinking I'd need a couple of new pieces of EyeCandy. For …
For my next game, I've been thinking I'd need a couple of new pieces of EyeCandy. For …
May 20, 1998
Probably gonna take it easy today. I think the haze and dust that's coating most of Texas is getting to me.
Otherwise, I've been making some good progress on the games. The latest dice game, now named "Kizbot", as I was feeling less-than creative during the naming process, is almost playable. I adde…
Otherwise, I've been making some good progress on the games. The latest dice game, now named "Kizbot", as I was feeling less-than creative during the naming process, is almost playable. I adde…
May 15, 1998
Well, I actually got some good feedback from the last entry. A couple of folks said that they shared my observations about the CGDC. A couple other people suggested that John Romero, the angry egotistical dwarf, be nominated for next year's People magazine awards. Still another person suggested tha…
May 11, 1998
Awright. I arrived back to my cozy Texas home at 3 o'clock this morning. The CGDC has come and gone. There's a lot of stuff to talk about, and I don't wanna give a blow-by-blow description, as it'd take forever. For that reason, I'm gonna put down my random impressions into a buncha bullet-points. …
May 02, 1998
Well, I'm taking the redeye to Long Beach tonight. I'll be arriving in sunny CA at about 3 AM, so I'll be nice and fresh for my indentured servitude at CGDC.
I put together 10 press kits to pass out to hopeful publishers. I pressed CD's with the existing games (they'll time out on 6/15). Shelly prin…
I put together 10 press kits to pass out to hopeful publishers. I pressed CD's with the existing games (they'll time out on 6/15). Shelly prin…
April 23, 1998
Moving along on the whole CGDC thing. Got my plane tickets and I have a hotel room lined up. Now I just need to have a nicely-debugged set of sample games to hand out.
The new main menu is basically done. You can see it here. It's much nicer than the old main menu, and it should be much easier to ex…
The new main menu is basically done. You can see it here. It's much nicer than the old main menu, and it should be much easier to ex…
April 18, 1998
A bit of a departure from the past few days. A fellow game developer mentioned to me that people who volunteer for 22 hours of work at the CGDC get a free giga-pass. They've also got special room-rates in exchange for indentured servitude. How could I resist? I couple of hours later, I had a discou…
April 13, 1998
Not much new game development over the past few days. Had to meet the families for the obligatory rabbit-worship ceremonies, getting myself a nasty sinus infection in the process.
I did, however, get the beginnings of the AI for the Um El Bagara game written on friday. I've got some nice little Mini…
I did, however, get the beginnings of the AI for the Um El Bagara game written on friday. I've got some nice little Mini…
April 07, 1998
First off, another good link. One problem I see in games nowadays is a problem of scope. Many products are so wrapped up in the video and the sound that they forget to put in an interesting well-tested game. Here is an article written by the head of Cheapass games (one of the better low-end card-ga…
April 03, 1998
To confirm John Munsch's assertion. I don't drive a Ferrari, despite being a game developer in D/FW. There are three main reasons why. . .
Until I overcome these obstacles,…
- Ferraris are exceedingly expensive
- I'm 6' 7" tall, and those things are barely knee-height for me
- I never learned to drive a stick
Until I overcome these obstacles,…
March 31, 1998
First off, I discovered that SpriteLib has moved here. The author has dropped the weird licensing stuff. You just need to put your free SpriteLib reg # somewhere in your app (like the "about" box). There's now no reason not to have this thing.
I made a long-overdue change to my timer code. In an ave…
I made a long-overdue change to my timer code. In an ave…
March 29, 1998
Didn't write any code today, but I do wanna get you up to speed on my current project.
A couple of months ago, I decided that I needed some new content in addition to just spending time improving the existing games, so I decided on creating an entirely new game-pack of 12 games. Added to my existing…
A couple of months ago, I decided that I needed some new content in addition to just spending time improving the existing games, so I decided on creating an entirely new game-pack of 12 games. Added to my existing…
March 28, 1998
First entry
Well folks, this is the first official entry of the Code Zone Development Diary. First off, big thanks to John Munsch for providing a bit of space and bandwidth for me to ramble on about my projects. Hopefully I can impart some interesting commentary on the state of an unusual project. …
Well folks, this is the first official entry of the Code Zone Development Diary. First off, big thanks to John Munsch for providing a bit of space and bandwidth for me to ramble on about my projects. Hopefully I can impart some interesting commentary on the state of an unusual project. …
Advertisement
Top Blog Posts
aigan
aigan
quizimojo
Advertisement