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PUBLIC MARKS from bcpbcp

05 March 2006 02:00

Qaf Framework: Main Page

Qaf is a "game logic framework" tailored for 2D side-scrollers/platformers written in C++. It provides classes, templates, and tools designed to organize the resources and orchestrate the behavior of such projects. Qaf is an extension to Haaf's Game Engine (see Requirements, below).

HGE - GPWiki

Explicaçao e tutoriais sobre a HGE. According to hge.relishgames.com, HGE (Haaf's Game Engine) is a "an easy to use yet powerful hardware accelerated 2D game engine. It is a full featured middleware for all who want to develop commercial quality 2D games rapidly and easily." It is built upon DirectX8, but no knowledge of DirectX programming is necessary, just familiarity with C++.

Haaf's Game Engine module

Anyhow, this is the Haaf Game Engine in BlitzMax. No longer do you have to use Max2D (yuck), but instead you can use a robust and very easy to use 2D engine.

SourceForge.net: Haaf's Game Engine

Fast and convenient development of high-quality small 2D games without knowing much about technology. This is the motto. HGE includes HAL (hardware abstraction layer), helper classes (fonts, particle systems, resource manager etc.) and authoring tools.

05 March 2006 01:45

NTSC-uk Features > OMEGA Interview

Following on from our article on Homebrew Shmup's, NTSC-uk decided to catch up with OMEGA, the Japan based homebrew Shmup developer (and creators of titles such as EveryExtend and Dan! Da! Dan!) to find out a little bit more about what goes on behind the scenes.

NTSC-uk Features > ABA Games Interview

NTSC-uk spoke to ABA Games, the Japan based homebrew Shmup developer (and creators of titles such as Torus Trooper and rRootage) to find out more.

05 March 2006 01:30

Finalboss - Entrevista com Tetsuya Mizuguchi

Tetsuya Mizuguchi, um dos game designers mais prolíficos e divertidos da atualidade, tem em seu currículo muitos games dos gêneros mais variados: Sega Rally, Rez, Space Channel 5, Lumines, Meteos e está prestes a lançar Ninety-Nine Nights, seu primeiro game para um console da próxima geração.

Slashdot | Adaptive AI in Games - Does it Really Work?

by 1 other
qasimodo asks: "I was recently reading a preview of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, and then I came across this article at GameSpot saying Pandora Tomorrow will feature adaptive AI which 'will adjust itself to players' skill level'. I remember (and is also mentioned in the PT article) Max Payne also featured this, but I never noticed it. I guess that's the best way to know if it works, since it adapts to your gaming skills, but does it really work? Have you noticed it? Do you have proof of it?"

Amazon.com: Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World: Books: Kevin Kelly

In many ways, the 20th century has been the Age of Physics. Out of Control is an accessible and entertaining explanation of why the coming years will probably be the Age of Biology -- particularly evolution and ethology -- and what this will mean to most every aspect of our society. Kelly is an enthusiastic and well-informed guide who explains the promises and implications of this rapidly evolving revolution very well.

Helios Pong - Edge Online

(via)
In his book Out of Control, author Kevin Kelley describes a Las Vegas conference room where a crowd of 5000, led by Pixar co-founder and Rescue on Fractalus co-creator Loren Carpenter, learn to adapt and react as a hive mind as they play a game of 2500 on 2500 Pong. Each half of the auditorium took collective control of each side, registering their individual intent to move in a certain direction with the wand. The input led to a computer, which averaged and relayed the moves to the game, with initially disastrous but eventually workable results.

05 March 2006 01:15

Raph’s Website » What are the lessons of MMORPGs today?

(via)
I realize this list may seem like a cutesy joke. But it isn’t. Go back, and re-read it. It’s actually a lament.

The 20' By 20' Room: John Kirk's Design Patterns of Successful Roleplaying Games

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John Kirk has written a book, Design Patterns of Successful Roleplaying Games, in which he tries to catalogue successful game mechanics, why they work, and when (and when not) to use them. Design patterns are a communication tool from software development -- the idea is that successful projects will tend to have recurring patterns, and that by naming and describing them and the situations that call for their use, we can make it easier to turn tacit, experiential knowledge into a teachable skill.

UW Libraries - Guide to Planning and Conducting Usability Tests

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This document is meant to provide a foundation for your next usability test. Pages found here borrow heavily from Jeffrey Rubin's Handbook of Usability Testing.

05 March 2006 00:45

US developer, RP artist collaborate on casual game - INQ7.net

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WHO says you need a huge budget to create a great game? American game developer Phil Steinmeyer and Filipino artist Von Caberte certainly didn’t need one to create a casual game published by PopCap called Bonnie’s Bookstore -- and thanks to the magic of the Internet, they did it without even meeting face to face.

Charlie "Flayra" Cleveland: Want to make a game? Here's how.

(via)
I think one great answer right now is the Popcap Games model. They've made some very fun "casual" games with a very tiny amount of technology. I've never gotten excited about casual games but the games Popcap are reaching a very wide audience and are genuinely fun. What gets me even more excited is that they've released their technology. For free.

05 March 2006 00:30

Make Mac Games » Blog Archive » Bullfrog: Improving AI

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I’ve been steadily plugging away at my list of bugs and enhancements for the upcoming release and finally tackled one area that I had been avoiding: improving the AI of some of the bugs.

05 March 2006 00:15