Archive for October, 2007
October 30, 2007 at 11:26 pm · Filed under Python, Tutorial
Recently I have been looking to get back into game programming, as I have taken several years off from doing much in game programming. I blame most of my lost time on MMORPG, I’ve been thru 5, and they each take a minimum of 1 year of your life (EQ 2.5 years, Dark Age of Camelot 1 year, Star Wars Galaxies 1 years, WoW almost 2 years on and off, Dungeons and Dragons Online 6 months).
Anyway, back to Pygame. Pygame is a set of Python Modules written on top of the SDL Library. As I have been looking to get back into game programming, I ran across Pygame to try to get into something simple, so I can slowly move up my knowledge in game development. What I have found is that if you are new to game programming, starting off with Pygame before moving onto another programming language like c or c++ will be very helpful.
From the looks of the games that have been made using Pygame, it looks like it is mostly suited for simple 2D type games (Arcade, Puzzle, Strategy, etc.) Although there are some 3D modules available, it looks like it is mostly suited for the simple type games.
I have read a couple of the tutorials, and looked a couple of the examples, and being someone who knows C and C++, a little Java, Perl, ASP, VB/JavaScript, the language looks quite easy to pick up, even if I hadn’t learned all those other languages. The Python language is very compact, and you are able to create a simple game with very few lines of code.
If you are looking to learn Game Programming I would suggest taking a look a Pygame as a start.
Pygame is a set of Python modules designed for writing games. It is written on top of the excellent SDL library. This allows you to create fully featured games and multimedia programs in the Python language. Pygame is highly portable and runs on nearly every platform and operating system.Pygame is free. Released under the LGPL licence, you can create open source, free, freeware, shareware, and commercial games with it. See the licence for full details.
For a nice introduction to Pygame, examine the line-by-line chimp tutorial, and the introduction for python programmers.
October 25, 2007 at 12:04 am · Filed under C / C++, Tutorial
If you do a search for C / C++ Tutorials on any of the major search engines, this page will show up somewhere in the top 10 list. It is a all round great guide, but they say it is best for someone who is knowledgable of C and looking to move on to C++.
They have several different versions (PDF, HTML, etc) which can be found HERE
If you are looking to move up and learn about C++, go visit the C++ Annotations Home Page
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October 20, 2007 at 12:30 am · Filed under Tutorial
If you have ever thought of getting into drawing or animation, this is an excellent resource. Check out the 2 links below there is some great reference material provided. The best is on the 2nd link where they show the Animation Run Cycle. This is one of the most famous piece of paper and from what I hear, is still used to this day by up and coming Animators.
“Preston Blair’s Animation (Book 1) is the best “how to” book on cartoon animation ever published. When Blair put the book together in 1947, he used the characters he had animated at Disney and MGM to illustrate the various basic principles of animation.”
http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/05/media-preston-blairs-animation-first.html
http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/05/media-preston-blairs-animation-1st.html
October 19, 2007 at 11:54 pm · Filed under Allegro, Allegro, Source, Tutorial
Allegro has been around for a while and the community has a very long list competitions with some great games that have been made over the years. A lot of the site still have a section where you can download the games, and also a bunch of them have the source code available as well.
SpeedHack 1999
SpeedHack 2001
The Allegro SizeHack3D 2001
The Allegro Team Competition 2001
The Pixelate Games Competition 2001
IdeaHack 2001
SpeedHack 2002
BlitzHack 2003
Speedhack 2003
TINS 2003
Speedhack 2004
TINS 2005
Speedhack 2005
TINS 2006
Speedhack 2006
TINS 2007
Speedhack 2007
October 17, 2007 at 10:08 pm · Filed under Tutorial, Web Development
I made this page a long time ago when I first got into Web Development. Still might be useful to beginner game developers. It list all the web safe colors with the HEX Number and the proper NAME for the color.
Web Safe Colors
October 17, 2007 at 9:42 pm · Filed under Sprites
The sprites below are found on VBExplorer.com It is a very good resource if you want to learn Visual Basic.
The site contains a large amount of Source Code, which makes it easier to learn a programming language, at least in my opinion. There are also great Tips to get started, Tutorials, VB Games, and a ToolBox of VB tools which are very helpful.
Below are some sprites I’ve found on the site. First bunch are from Hermann Hillmann and the bottom row is by a great artist Floyd Yancey.
Hermann Hillmann :: Airplane || Female Warrior || Game Tile Set || Large Warbot || Male and Female Poses || Small Warbot || SpaceShip
Floyd Yancey :: Video Game Art
October 11, 2007 at 11:47 pm · Filed under Sprites
Holy crap this site has tonnes and tonnes of sprites for your game making pleasure.
They are mostly all sprites for Classic games, so there is nothing here for you to make commercial games, but if you were going to make a commercial game you would probably use better looking sprites. If you are thinking of doing a remake, this is a great site to get the sprites from so you can save your time programming rather then drawing.
Check out The ShyGuy Kingdom website for your next game programming idea and redo a classic.
October 11, 2007 at 11:23 pm · Filed under Allegro, Tutorial
Allegro Vivace is a plain text Tutorial for the game programming library called
Allegro.
It was created by George Foot a very long time ago, but it still holds true today, and is still one of the best resources for learning Allegro. The way he explains everything is very simple to understand and if you looking to learn a game programming library, this is a very good library to start with, and this tutorial is your best bet to learn it.
Check out Allegro Vivace
George also made a tutorial to create the game Pong with Allegro, great help seeing a game get built from scratch. George wrote that he would create others tutorials (Asteriods, Strategy Game, Platform Game), but I guess he never got around to it, as have checked back periodically over the last couple of years and I haven’t seen any updates. Too bad, would have like to get a good tutorial on how to make a Strategy Game with Allegro.
October 11, 2007 at 7:36 pm · Filed under 3D, Tutorial
This is a great resource if you want to learn Open GL programming. There is over 40 great lessons and the way they are layed out, you should be spinning some 3D graphics in no time. At the bottom of all the Lessons there is downloads for the Code to all lessons in over 30 different programming languages (Java, Mac OS Cocoa and Glut, VB, etc., etc.)
NeHe includes a couple of tutorials to setup OpenGL in different environments besides Windows. If you looking to start learning Open GL in any OS, this is a great place to start.
Setting Up OpenGL In Mac OS || Setting Up OpenGL In Solaris || Setting Up OpenGL In Mac OS X Using GLUT || Setting Up An OpenGL Window
Lessons 1 - 5 || Lessons 6 - 10 || Lessons 11 - 15 || Lessons 16 - 20 || Lessons 21 - 25 || Lessons 26 - 30 || Lessons 31 - 35 || Lessons 36 - 40 || Lessons 41 - 45 || Lessons 46 - 48
October 10, 2007 at 11:47 pm · Filed under Allegro, Source
Glizda is a nibbles clone but with more emphasis on puzzle solving. It has a lot of special effects like moveable blocks, bombs, teleport and many more. There are five episodes you can play and each episode has 10 levles.
Level editor supplied with the game lets you do your own levels.
Download the source HERE
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