Quick view

So I was complimenting the UDK for ease of use in my last post, well this is what I managed to do in a couple of hours (that was spread out over 2 or 3 days):


The UDK is well worth checking out.

Martin

Bit of an Update .... but not much!

Hi there,

so things have been pretty crazy around here. As I've said before, this is all done in spare time and, unfortunately, spare time is something that has disappeared as of late (though an addiction to Assassin's Creed 2 has not helped). Anyway, I have left XNA on the back burner as I have been looking at version 3 of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK). I must say, it is a pretty slick tool. The interfaces have changed A LOT since I last looked at the engine and the asset browser is a bit confusing at first, but you soon get used to it. There are a lot of resources on the UDK site (such as video tutorials) and they are all free. The engine is also free as long as you are not developing for commercial use.

Anyway, so why did I start looking at UDK? I have been asked to prepare a little something about AI for a presentation at the Calgary XNA Users Group. The presentation is based on a thesis I did a while ago on giving NPCs the ability to determine their own use of cover in environments. The original demo of this was completed in C++ in a custom 2D engine that used DirectX8. Anyway, the art work was garbage as I did it myself so I was hoping to do something that really shows off the potential for the technology as well as looks good and was in C++ (though the UDK runs Unreal Script, but at least it is OO) as it would be quicker than developing a 3D engine in XNA. So the prototype is starting to get somewhere as far as the level design goes, so I'm going to start some coding on it tomorrow. Hopefully I can put some screen shots up here soon so you can see it. I may even put up a copy of the presentation.

That's all for now, so take it easy.

Martin

Calgary XNA Users Group

So I attended the Calgary XNA Users Group meeting last night and it was a great experience. Some of the members had taken part in the Global Game Jam so the meeting was a Post-Mortem of the event and the game developed so was very interesting.

The people there were very approachable and friendly so if you find yourself at a loose-end every 2nd Wednesday then make your way to SAIT and join in. The event is free, but parking at SAIT costs $8. If you have more queries you can go to the website or, if you're on Facebook, check out the Facebook group "Calgary XNA User's Group".

Martin

On with the show!

OK, so with a few temper tantrums and wailing as August the 6th came and went, I pondered "OK, so what now?". I did some reflection, though at the core I knew what the problems were (lack of documentation, lack of meetings, clear objectives, etc, etc), and thought "OK, the questions still stands: so now what?". Well, after destroying many cities on AoE to vent my anger & frustration, I moved my hovering cursor off of the AoE icon and onto the C# icon and started coding again. Ideas have since started to flow and I'm working on a couple of them right now. But hang on ..... after a big disaster you work on 2 projects at the same time? Isn't that a bit crazy suicidal? Well, to be honest, no! This is because one relies on parts of the other, so as one gets built, so does the other! Hurrah for reusability!

Anyway, I spent a couple of days coding in earnest and started to develop the framework of the first project, then gave in to destroying some more cities for a bit before returning to the realm of C# & XNA. So watch this space .......

Martin

Submission Withdrawal

Kirkley Entertainment Inc. is withdrawing from this years' Dream Build Play competition. We will begin the post-mortem process so that we can learn from the mistakes that were made and come back stronger in the future.

Thanks to everyone for their support, and best of luck to this years' competitors.

Martin

Temporary home for our Blog

We've been having some problems updating the Blog recently so we've moved it to this address now. I'm not sure how this will effect people who have subscribed to the RSS feed so please feel free to leave comments. We are working to get the problem solved and the site moved back so we'll keep you in the loop.

Texture Artist Position Available

We've changed our last position from a Game Programmer position to a Texture Artist position, are you interested or know someone who may be? Then just contact us!
Martin