Studying....Sort of

I'm supposed to be studying right now but let's be honest, no one can ever be bothered studying. Ever.

I have an exam on Thursday on Algorithms and Data Structures, still there? Just making sure in case you fell asleep reading that immensely boring title. As much as i know that it is an important subject and there are some parts to it that i do find interesting, most of my studying has resulted in me "checking the internet", I.E. doing this and checking if any of my subscribed channels have uploaded anything on youtube.....they have not.

At this moment i would much rather be going through more C# code and learning some more of that. Although it didn't look like much, i spent 3 hours last night working through a Space Invaders tutorial through which i learned a fair amount from.

A classic!

Like i said, it doesn't look like much and it didn't require quite as much coding as the C++ version that i done earlier in the year but it does look better purely because it has animation in the invaders and a bit more colour to it than just red and blue cubes that were used in the 3D version. I also found it much easier to implement certain parts of the game, such as the control mechanisms but I'm still unsure whether that was because i understood what i was doing a lot better than when i was starting out with C++ or because it was just simpler in C#, i hope it was the former purely because i want to feel like I've learnt something over the last year but i suspect it has something to do with the latter as well.

3D version, I'm sure it would look better if I put some proper models in.

Now I'd better get back to studying.........or a may start writing up a review for something.

Either way, I'll probably be lurking around the internet for a while longer. There's plenty of time to study tomorrow.


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Global Game Jam, PC problems and more!

First post of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How bad am I at updating this?

Anyway, a few note-worthy events have happened in the last month or so. Firstly, a few of us from my uni class decided to take a risk and enter the Global Game Jam with very little game coding skills to help us. Secondly, I have started trying to make some mods for various games in order to increase my skills and lastly, but most importantly, I have gotten my hands on a better computer so I'm back on the PC gaming scene after a large number of years.

The a-MAZE-ing Caterpillar! Our Game Jam project was brilliant fun to make and, although there was a few things we wanted to change, we were all very pleased with the end result, especially as it was our first attempt at making a proper working game.

Screenshot from the 3rd level of our game

Unfortunately we didn't have the time to learn how to code a game within the 48 hour time-limit so we decided to use Gamemaker, a game making program designed for those who don't know how to code or who only know very little. You still have to have a basic understanding of various logic methods but for the most part it is a fairly simple program to use. Next year we hope to improve by writing our own code and making our game without the help of such a program, and I can't wait for the large amount of stress it will bring. For those who missed it here's the link again: http://globalgamejam.org/2012/maze-ing-caterpillar. Just scroll to the download part, download, un-zip and play.

I also mentioned i had started modding some games, by this i mean i have started learning the basics of Minecraft modding and, now that i have a better computer, i am looking for more games that i can add my own ideas to.

A very simple block mod in Minecraft

In regards to Minecraft, i have gotten my head round the block images and creation, as shown above, and i am getting used to the crafting system (The block above was made by making a 4-square of dirt blocks). Unfortunately it has been a few weeks since i last touched on modding but i hope to make some time for it soon, especially since now I have......

A NEW PC!!!!!! (sort of). My little brother (who at one time had more money than sense) has lent me his PC, which although a few years old can still run new games with minimal effort. Thanks to this I have a much better work station for uni work and any modding I decide to do. Previously when building a very small Space Invaders game as part of a university practical exercise, my PC took just over 5 minutes to build and run the game (my laptop takes at least double this despite being only a year old). Now, I can barely blink before the game is up and running.

Main Hard Drive failed on my old PC

Another upside to having a much better PC is that I can finally play PC games again so I am now playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, which i can highly recommend, and Civilizations V, which has already sucked 8 hours out of me despite only being installed yesterday. So if you're on Steam I can now officially say that you can add me (ikasukiller) and recommend any and all PC games that are worth playing.

I WILL update this tomorrow again, i promise this time. So stay tuned for more and remember to add me on whichever social network you like, you can never have too many friends.

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Christmas Plans

This holiday season i am planning to get a lot done, assuming I can keep away from the new Star Wars MMO. Firstly I want to really get to grips with Unity so I can try making some prototype games from some ideas I have, I also want to re-read my notes on C++ so I'm ready for the next semester at uni because, being the geek that I am, I want to do really well in this year and so far I could have done better. Lastly, and most importantly, I want to complete all these games that have been stacking up. For the last month or so I have been collecting these great games that have been coming out but have had no time to play them and this holiday is the perfect chance.

On top of all that I've found an interest in Bleach (the anime not the liquid) which is slowly sucking most of my time away for the moment but luckily I'll have ran out of episodes soon and can continue with my plans. Unluckily however, play.com are selling the next few seasons I want for under £10.

Time to make some harsh decisions.

While I'm here, we have made a facebook page for MercuryForty4. There isn't much there at the moment but it'll do until we get the actual page up and running so feel free to "like" it if you want to give us some moral support.

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Darwinian Difficulty

While browsing about the Internet, as one does when bored and should really be sleeping, I found a very interesting article about game difficulty. In the article, published on Gamasutra, the writer explores the idea of a "Darwinian difficulty curve" where a game starts off being hard and stays that way without the option to lower the difficulty should you decide that you are struggling a bit too much. The writer, Josh Bycer, uses two games to prove his point that this way of making games is better than the much more popular difficulty selection method, those games being Ninja Gaiden Black and Demon Souls. Unfortunately i have yet to experience the "horror" that is Demon Souls but from what I've heard it's even worse than Ninja Gaiden. The main difference between this method of designing games and the more common method is that the player will be given all the skills needed to complete the game at the very start and within the first level or section of the game will be forced to use each of these skills at some point. This means that the player is aware of all if not most of the skills required to successfully go through the game from the very start, usually this is done without the use of tutorials and through putting the player in a situation where they either see the skill being used or come across a new enemy/area that requires them to expand upon their knowledge of the game so far and to increase the skill they have. Throughout the article Bycer notes that through the use of Darwinian difficulty the player is left feeling more rewarded having used their own skill and knowledge to overcome obstacles, from personal experience i can say this is very true of Ninja Gaiden which to this day I am yet to complete due to its difficulty. I won't go into it any further as Bycer does a very good job of it but it is an interesting read if you are at all interested in games.

On a similar note, in the previously mentioned article someone posted a comment directing readers to a video by Egoraptor. For those of you who don't know, Egoraptor is a highly entertaining animator, most popular for his "Awesome" series of animations which mainly parody popular game series. In the video Egoraptor talks about Mega Man X and how it cleverly hinted at how to complete it instead of using tutorials or characters telling the player how a challenge could be overcome. The video itself is both highly informative and entertaining but be warned Egoraptor can be a bit foul mouthed.

From now on i will be including links to my social sites and gamertags to make things simpler for people to find me, these will be located at the bottom of my posts (if i remember to put them there). And just in case you missed them, here's the links to the article and video:

Darwinian Difficulty: How Throwing Players In Headfirst Can Work by Josh Bycer
Sequelitis - Mega Man Classic vs, Mega Man X by Egoraptor


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Coursework...

Ever get that feeling that the coursework you're doing has absolutely nothing to do with anything? Well that's where I am right now. For the last week my life has revolved around databases and SQL and I can't wait until it's out of the way. I know that most people complain about coursework but I really don't mind it too much, in fact in the case of my C#, C++ and Java courseworks i fairly enjoyed it. Being pushed and learning by myself makes me feel like I have learnt a lot more than if I was just shown how to do something, it gives a sense of progress. While this is still the case with SQL programming, it is much less enjoyable and a lot more stressful so as soon as this is out of the way I can concentrate on C# and enjoying programming again. I know it sounds sad but I'm going to be doing it for the rest of my life (hopefully) so its probably a good thing that i enjoy it.

SQL. I have the utmost respect for those that have to do this on a daily basis.

Anyway, not much in the way of gaming this week, sad face. And i completely forgot about Sonic Generations coming out! On top of that I'm now swaying over if i should get Saints Row or not. Originally i had decided to leave it but recent footage and the character creation demo has made me think twice, so if one of you lovely readers could lend me £40 it would make my decision much easier!

The next review isn't up on A Game Developer Reviews: yet as I've been too busy with coursework. I was hoping to play Battlefield a bit more and get a review done for that but i think I'll wait until I've played it a bit more. So now I've got a few options but whichever i decide on you devoted readers will have another brilliantly written review to read, hopefully by Tuesday (8th).