February 26, 2008 at 1:50 pm · Filed under Game Articles
Well, I heard about this a couple of weeks ago, but I am just got around to writing about it today, after reading some news about it, I did search through Google to find there homepage. Nothing much up there except a small video (see below). I am really excited about this game, and can’t wait for it to come out. I think Guitar Hero III is a game where the money I spent on it was well deserved. I have never played a game this much, and I am not even close to finishing it, because I am still stuck on Hard level.
But Guitar Rising sounds awesome, you will be able to plug in ANY guitar and not only is it a fun game ala Guitar Hero, but it will actually teach you the proper strings, so you are playing, but also learning. This is a great idea and I can’t believe it has take so long for someone to figure out to do this. You will be able to level at your own pace, starting from the beginning couple of notes moving on to expert.
One thing I hope they improve on before the game comes out is that they only annouce 30 songs that come with game. Hopefully there will be more you can download or buy, because 30 songs is not much. I mean Guitar Hero III comes with 100 or so, and after completing Easy, Medium, and most of Hard, I am getting a little tired of ‘em. Plus I am playing on the Wii so nothing downloadable yet =(
I must say I like the layout of these tutorials better, it not only shows you the code, but there is examples with Screen shots, so the walk thru to install and start running your first game with VB and XNA seems like a simple couple of steps.
I will delve further into these tutorials later, but for now, enjoy this great find.
February 15, 2008 at 9:37 am · Filed under Tutorial, dotNET
Found a bunch of great learning tools for Microsoft .NET using DirectX over at MSDN. This is a great resource, and Code is provided while he explains it, and also as a download, so you can save on the typing. Not sure if you have installed what you need to get started? Not to worry, in every article he provides links to download the Free software you will need to continue the tutorials and learn.
A quote from the site
This series as aimed at beginning programmers who are interested in developing a game for their own use with the .NET Framework and DirectX. The goal of this series is to have fun creating a game and learn game development and DirectX along the way. Game programming and DirectX have their own terms and definitions that can be difficult to understand, but after awhile, you’ll crack the code and be able to explore a new world of possibilities. I will keep things as straightforward as possible and decode terms as they appear. Another part of the learning curve comes from the math you’ll need to deal with DirectX. I am going to point out some resources along the way that will help you brush up on, or learn, the math skills you’ll need to keep going in DirectX.
In this series, we are going to build a simple game to illustrate the various components of a commercial game. We will cover how to create great looking graphics in 3D, how to handle user input, how to add sound to a game, how to create computer opponents using Artificial Intelligence, and how to model real-world physics. In addition we are going to cover how to make your game playable over the network and how to optimize your game for performance. Along the way, I will show you how to apply principles of object-oriented development and, as well, I will share some of my experience in creating well-organized and elegant code.
When I started writing this article, I thought maybe I was going off-topic from what I normally post on the site, but then I read up a little more, and found that a lot of developers use Virtual PC type software to test there game development on several platforms. Which makes sense.
I am probably late to the show, but recently I bought a wicked (for me) new computer and it came pre-installed with Vista. Ahh Microsoft, what the heck are you thinking when you make new software. I am unsure. I can’t say I completely hate it, because it is not that bad. I have heard some horror stories, but in my case, there was only a few older programs that I could not get running on Vista. Another problem was finding drivers for a USB Wireless Key I had, but that is besides the point of this article.
I needed VPN to work, and my companies VPN does not work with Vista, and they have said they won’t support it for a long while. I didn’t feel like partitioning the drive, although it is a simple process, having so many drive letters is a pain. I didn’t have another drive, or wanted to purchase one, So I went looking for an alternate route and came across Microsoft Virtual PC 2007.
And although Microsoft usually get the short end of the stick, and people complain about them a lot, I think they have done a pretty decent job with Virtual PC 2007. It was very easy to install in Vista, then when it came time to install Windows XP is was quite easy with no problems. I installed VPN and the other programs that didn’t work in Vista, and ta-da! I got the best of both Worlds (not really, would be nice if I could get Mac OSX running on this as well, but that is another article)
Window Vista is my operating system, and I got Windows XP running in another Window. I gave the Virtual PC Window 1gig memory, so it is just as fast as my old computer running XP, and so far (fingers crossed) it has worked flawlessly. I shared a drive from XP Virtual PC to my Vista PC so if I wanted to transfer files it would be a simple task.
Next I want to try to install another OS, maybe Win98 (my favorite Windows of all time) just to see how it goes.
All and All this is a great product from Microsoft, and the very best part is that it is completely FREE. Thats right, Micro$osft is giving it away for Free.
Quote from the main site :
Use Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same physical computer. Switch between virtual machines with the click of a button. Use virtual machines to run legacy applications, provide support, train users, and enhance quality assurance.
Virtual PC lets you create separate virtual machines on your Windows desktop, each of which virtualizes the hardware of a complete physical computer. Use virtual machines to run operating systems such as MS-DOS, Windows, and OS/2. You can run multiple operating systems at once on a single physical computer and switch between them as easily as switching applications—instantly, with a mouse click. Virtual PC is perfect for any scenario in which you need to support multiple operating systems, whether you use it for tech support, legacy application support, training, or just for consolidating physical computers.
Recently came across several tutorials that explained AJAX very well.
Jon Hughes over at Phazm.com has written a great tutorial called Easy as Pie - Ajax Requests. I believe this is the 2nd in Jon’s Easy as Pie series, if you liked the Ajax Requests Tutorial, then also check out Easy as Pie - Unobtrusive Javascript, another great tutorial. I find Jon explans things great in his tutorials (line by line in the Ajax tutorial) and it would be easy for a Newb to pick up.
Couple others worth checking out :
You can’t go wrong with any tutorials at W3Schools, if you want to learn any programming Web-Wise, W3Schools is the absolute best place to start. They have been around forever, and I think I even learning my beginner HTML and ASP from them. The have a great AJAX Tutorial of course.
