Update

Its been a while since I last updated this so it's about time I showed off some of the stuff that we have been working on in uni.

Although I have 3 modules to work on (as is the case every year), I feel like I put a lot more work into one of these modules than the others (again, as is the case every year). I'm still not entirely sure why I do this, it may be because I find one module more interesting than the others and want to work a lot more on it or it could be that there is just a lot more work to do in one module over the others. This trimester I think it's a mix of those two reasons. Introduction to Graphics Programming is a module that I find quite interesting, especially the coding side, and has a large amount of work to do and because of this I am much more likely to do work for it than the other two modules I have. So, here is some of the work I have done for that module:

At first, the work was fairly easy so it wasn't too much of a hassle having a lot of it to do. We started off just setting up OpenGL and basic windows for use throughout the module and then moved on to basic 2D shapes, culminating in the creation of a 2D Sierpinski Gasket.

A 2D Sierpinski Gasket

At first this was quite difficult but looking back on it now, just a few weeks later, it seems quite simple. The main problem I had was getting the divisions to work properly but luckily it didn't take too long to figure out. After this we moved on to simple 3D shapes, cubes, tetrahedrons and the like. The majority of this work was just making sure that vertices and indices were properly calculated as well as upgrading our background code to improve how we rendered the shapes. At the end of this section we were challenged to make a 3D version of the Sierpinski Gasket using tetrahedrons.

A simple 3D cube

3D version of the Sierpinski Gasket

A 3D scene using a plane and six cylinders

 The 3D Sierpinski Gasket proved a lot more difficult to create and I ended up spending hours trying to work out how to make it work. In the end, one of my classmates helped me understand how the divisions worked and from there i was able to create the final product pictured above. Again, now that I've done it and know how it works, it seems fairly simple and thankfully I wasn't too far off the end product which helped my confidence a lot.

After this we worked on improving our graphics engine to make it even simpler to render objects and now we are working on lighting effects on our objects.

A torus with a diffuse lighting effect

The 3D Sierpinski Gasket with the diffuse lighting effect

So far I've had no problems with any of the lighting code although I have only really just started working through it. I have managed to implement an ambient lighting effect with no problems at all and a diffuse lighting effect as shown above with only minor problems, again with the Sierpinski Gasket but thankfully it didn't take me as long to get it working with the new effect.

I am extremely happy with where my skills are at the moment, given two years ago I had never attempted coding before apart from small javascript and html projects. Although I have struggled a few times in the Graphics Programming module I have always managed to work through it either by myself or with some help from my classmates and my other two modules are going well so far as well. In these modules I am using Java and C# and having absolutely no problems with the coding side of the work at all and I put this down to the work I done over the summer in C#. Simple things that used to trip me up are no longer a problem and I feel like I've gotten much faster at recognizing where problems in my code are and solving these problems.

Unfortunately due to the workload I have at the moment I'm finding it hard to find time for any personal projects but I'm trying to work out a schedule that will allow me to work on some things during term-time and with the Global Game Jam just round the corner I would really like to get my head around Unity so we can make an attempt at a professional looking game. As much as I loved the experience last year and the game we made, it was fairly simplistic and didn't really require us to code too much but this year we will have more experience and more team members which will hopefully allow us to create something much better.


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EPIC FUN TIMES! (Seriously this time)

SUMMER TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exams are now done for the year, although admittedly that last one could go either way depending how my luck holds up. I managed to sleep most of the day away after getting home from the exam which was fortunate given i had about 8 hours sleep spanning the previous 3 days.

Over the next few days I'm going to concentrate on getting a job but, obviously, I'm going to play soooooooo many games, starting with Catherine. Brilliant puzzle game with a great story and I'm looking forward to finishing it off and seeing how it concludes the story, it can be really crazy and over the top at times but its definitely worth a play through if you have the time. Apart from that, as i keep saying, I'm going to start working through C# again tomorrow now that i don't have any revision to do.

Also, if i don't get too caught up with Catherine i might finish off a review seeing as it's been quite a while since i managed to get one posted.

Anyway, time to enjoy the next few months while i don't have anything to worry about except how to spend my birthday.

***UPDATE***
Got round to doing that review i promised, if you want to see my take on Sonic Generations feel free to take a look.


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May

It has been a long time since I actually wrote anything for this....

So! The last few months have been fairly hectic, I've had a lot of coursework to get done and of the coursework that needed done I can quite happily say a lot more time was spent on making a working game. For the most part, I was working on the games physics which could be a major pain at points and although i eventually got it working with the help of the other two guys in the group, we unfortunately couldn't get it working in the final build. This was due to me working mainly using separate objects for the walls, floors etc. while testing and the final build using a mesh for the level. Of course, we found out nearly straight after the hand in that there was an easy fix for the problem.

Although this piece of coursework in particular was very stressful and had us working nearly to the last moment before the deadline, I had a great time. Despite all the problems and frustrations and having to run the game and do the same thing over and over again to the point I was running on automatic most of the time, it has made me realise that this is definitely what I want to do for the rest of my life. The satisfaction and happiness achieved just from getting a simple thing to work in your code is unbeatable.

Spurred on by this, I am now working through more tutorials but this time on C# as opposed to C++ and will hopefully have my own fully working game by the end of the summer. Alongside this, our year group may be adventurous enough to try making a game together over the summer, if we don't get too lazy.

In other news, I'm building up a horrendously large collection of games on Steam, much to the dismay of my bank balance. On the plus side it does mean I've had a lot more games to play, and most of them are worth the money. My only regret is that it took me so long to get back into PC gaming, it does mean having to spend a whole lot more on upgrading my PC though.

Anyway, now that I only have one exam left it frees up a lot of time. So alongside personal projects I am hoping to come back to this a bit more as well as the game review side of things, gives you lot something to look forward to, doesn't it.


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Camera Work

Today, after milling around on Steam wondering what games to add to my wishlist for when I actually have money, I buckled down to some work.

For the most part I was working on Uni stuff, some of which involved building cameras. This is part of our on-going practical work to build a game engine for use in our project.

This doesn't show the camera actually working but I'm sure you get the idea.

I'm still finishing off this part but will have it finished by tomorrow night, then I can play around with a 3rd person camera which we hope to use in our game project.

I'm still trying to find time to write a review for my other blog but feel free to have a look at the ones already there if you haven't already. The last one I put up was on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which safely gets my vote for game of the year.

Time to sleep now!

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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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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).