My effort for Charity Game Jam, COMMANDO V ALIENS TURBO is finished and uploaded, you can grab it here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12895849/CvAT.zip
Or search for it on the Charity Game Jam website. It's a simple game, but if you enjoy it please consider donating some money to a very worthy cause. And even if you don't enjoy it, please consider donating!
All the models and textures came from the Unity Asset Store. Some graphics for the menu were made using the CoolText website. Some of the sound effects were from freesound whilst some were taken from the Unity Asset Store.
I enjoyed putting this together, despite some very frustrating moments! It could definitely do with a bit more polish in a few places, but I just don't have the time to do that before the deadline. I might revisit it later, but I already have new projects in mind that I want to tackle.
Enjoy!
Saturday, 30 November 2013
Friday, 29 November 2013
Charity Game Jam
I'm brushing off my (very) rusty programming skills this weekend to try and create a game. I've got the next 3 days to work on it. Should be fun!
My son came up with the idea of doing this. He recently did the SpeccyJam with a friend from school, so he's a dab hand at it now! We're both using Unity 3D for our efforts, will post updates and progress here.
Wish us luck!
Should have probably mentioned that we are doing this in support of Charity Game Jam! Find out more in the following video:
Our chosen charity will be Child's Play.
I've been beavering away for a couple of hours and it's time for a work-in-progress screenshot from the Unity editor:
All the assets used in the game are from the fantastic Unity Asset Store. I will, of course, be compiling a list of what I have used later...
Update @ 14:50
Had a small disaster just before lunch and lost a lot of work, but in the aftermath I decided on a change of direction for the environment in the game and I think it's all the better for it.
Latest screenshot, again from within the Unity editor:
Look at that horrible creature's face all lit up with the muzzle flash! Gives you chills, doesn't it?
Update @ 16:00
Calling it a day now as the rest of the family is due home shortly. Enjoyed myself today and am quite pleased with the progress. Lots to get done tomorrow, but I am fairly confident of knocking it all into shape.
One more screenshot to end the day on:
My son came up with the idea of doing this. He recently did the SpeccyJam with a friend from school, so he's a dab hand at it now! We're both using Unity 3D for our efforts, will post updates and progress here.
Wish us luck!
Should have probably mentioned that we are doing this in support of Charity Game Jam! Find out more in the following video:
Our chosen charity will be Child's Play.
Update @ 11:05
I've been beavering away for a couple of hours and it's time for a work-in-progress screenshot from the Unity editor:
All the assets used in the game are from the fantastic Unity Asset Store. I will, of course, be compiling a list of what I have used later...
Update @ 14:50
Had a small disaster just before lunch and lost a lot of work, but in the aftermath I decided on a change of direction for the environment in the game and I think it's all the better for it.
Latest screenshot, again from within the Unity editor:
Look at that horrible creature's face all lit up with the muzzle flash! Gives you chills, doesn't it?
Update @ 16:00
Calling it a day now as the rest of the family is due home shortly. Enjoyed myself today and am quite pleased with the progress. Lots to get done tomorrow, but I am fairly confident of knocking it all into shape.
One more screenshot to end the day on:
Sunday, 2 June 2013
My Next Gen
As I write this, E3 is less than two weeks away. Sony and Microsoft have already announced some details of their new machines, with more to come at their E3 conferences. The next generation is looming and will most likely be with us before the end of the year. So I need to decide which way to jump.
I'll tackle the two machines in a separate post, but first I think a few questions about the next generation need answering...
1) Didn't I already buy a next gen console? The Wii U?
While I love my Wii U and it has some fantastic games that are only possible on that platform, it's probably only brought Nintendo up to the current gen (i.e. 360 and PS3) standards. It's not clear at this stage how much support it's going to receive from publishers as we have already seen some high profile cancellations, including Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Online, Sega's Aliens: Colonial Marines (a blessing in disguise probably, considering the reviews received for other versions - although wasn't the Wii U version previously touted as the "definitive" version as the gamepad could be used as a motion tracker?) and EA's Battlefield 3.
The once exclusive Rayman Legends from Ubisoft has now gone multi-platform and the ready-to-release Wii U version has been delayed to almost a year from it's originally planned release date so all versions can release simultaneously.
The once exclusive Rayman Legends from Ubisoft has now gone multi-platform and the ready-to-release Wii U version has been delayed to almost a year from it's originally planned release date so all versions can release simultaneously.
Will I be able to play FIFA 14 on Wii U later this year? And will that version be on a par with the 360/PS3/PC versions (FIFA 13 on Wii U was based on an older version of the game and was missing a lot of the features of other versions, for instance the fantastic Ultimate Team mode)? What about the next Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed games?
Only time will tell, but I suspect that to experience all the best games on offer I will need something else to complement my Wii U.
2) Do we actually need a next gen console?
This is an excellent question. When Sony did their big PS4 unveiling they talked about a lot of features that I am just not interested in. All the on-line streaming of your game shenanigans? No thanks. I know Twitch.tv is very popular and lots of people regular watch players streaming their matches of Starcraft 2, League of Legends, etc., but I've never looked at any of that stuff.
And Microsoft seem to have a huge focus on the way Xbox One will communicate/control your TV viewing. They would like you to think that this is a very innovative new feature, but really they're just lifting the idea from Google TV. Besides, I suspect that this feature either won't be available outside of the US, or will be highly diluted by comparison to what is offered to customers in the US. We're still waiting for Nintendo's TVii feature to launch in Europe and that console has been available over seven months now!
So I don't think I need any of the "exciting" new features, so it's all down to the games. But are the games actually going to be much better? It's rare that I load up a game on PS3 or 360, even those from the early days of this generation, and think that the graphics are awful and this game would be so much better with double the RAM and double the processing power behind it.
Do I need to spend hundreds of pounds to see a small visual upgrade in my games? I can't help but feel that the improvement isn't going to be the equivalent of moving from standard definition TV to high definition TV. More on a par of the difference between 720p and 1080p. It's definitely there, but really, is it making that much of a difference?
3) What do I do with all my old games and consoles?
It appears that we're going to see no backwards compatibility on either the PS4 or Xbox One. So to make use of your existing games collection you will have to keep your old consoles. That's great if you have the room to leave them set up alongside your shiny new purchase, but the reality is that a lot of people won't have the space - either that or their wife/girlfriend/partner won't be impressed by the addition of another box under the TV and the old one will have to go to make room for it!
A lot of people will probably contemplate selling off their old consoles and games to fund their new console, but can you really face not playing some of those great games from this gen again? No more inFamous? No more Uncharted? No more Gears of War? No more Halo 4? No more Red Dead Redemption? Not sure I want to go down that route.
4) Can I actually afford any of this?
Both the PS4 and Xbox One consoles are up for pre-order at Amazon, both priced at £599.99 and at Zavvi, this time at £399.99. I hope that Amazon are wildly off the mark with their prices, but I suspect Zavvi might be a lot closer, if not right on the money. £400 for a new console with no games to play on it? Woah...
And speaking of games, Zavvi are listing a number of PS4 titles for pre-order at £49.99. I'm a little surprised here and think Zavvi might have shot themselves in the foot by getting these listed early. I wouldn't be surprised to see the recommended retail price for PS4/Xbox One games being another £5 to £10 more than that.
Why? Because games for these new consoles are going to become far more expensive to make. If we have greater graphical fidelity, that means that we are going to see much more detail in textures and models. That means that those textures and models are going to have to be higher resolution (in the case of textures) and more complex (in the case of models). Both of those will take longer to create, leading to an increased amount of development time, which equates to a higher salary paid to the development team. That increases the cost to produce the game which means that the publisher is going to pass that price on to the consumer.
Offline multiplayer? How much is it going to cost me to sit on the sofa with both of my kids playing a game together? One of the things I loved about Wii U is that Nintendo made it backwards compatible not only with all the Wii software, but with all the Wii controllers and peripherals too. I bought a Wii U and Nintendoland and using my existing collection of Wii controllers we could have a fantastic 4 player game with the whole family involved. If I want to play four players on either the PS4 or Xbox One, how much am I going to have to spend? Another £150? Probably.
It begs the question why Sony and Microsoft couldn't have made their new consoles backwards compatible with controllers in the same way Nintendo have? Instead Sony have forced the Move technology on us by including it in the controller, rather than as an optional peripheral and Microsoft have done the same with Kinect by including it in the box.
The obvious answer is: money. They both stand to make money from consumers by forcing us to pay again for additional controllers. So we're now looking at paying in the region of £500+ for a new console, an extra controller and a copy of FIFA 14 come Christmas? I doubt that I'll be paying that.
Conclusion
Unless there are some BIG surprises at E3 and over the coming months regarding cost, I think I will be waiting a while to join the next generation. I just can't justify the cost.
As a side note, if I was offered the two consoles for free and told I could only take one, right now I would probably take... the PS4. Purely because where my existing consoles are setup I don't think I would have enough room for Kinect to work, which pretty much rules out the Xbox One for me. Nice one, Microsoft.
And Microsoft seem to have a huge focus on the way Xbox One will communicate/control your TV viewing. They would like you to think that this is a very innovative new feature, but really they're just lifting the idea from Google TV. Besides, I suspect that this feature either won't be available outside of the US, or will be highly diluted by comparison to what is offered to customers in the US. We're still waiting for Nintendo's TVii feature to launch in Europe and that console has been available over seven months now!
So I don't think I need any of the "exciting" new features, so it's all down to the games. But are the games actually going to be much better? It's rare that I load up a game on PS3 or 360, even those from the early days of this generation, and think that the graphics are awful and this game would be so much better with double the RAM and double the processing power behind it.
Do I need to spend hundreds of pounds to see a small visual upgrade in my games? I can't help but feel that the improvement isn't going to be the equivalent of moving from standard definition TV to high definition TV. More on a par of the difference between 720p and 1080p. It's definitely there, but really, is it making that much of a difference?
3) What do I do with all my old games and consoles?
It appears that we're going to see no backwards compatibility on either the PS4 or Xbox One. So to make use of your existing games collection you will have to keep your old consoles. That's great if you have the room to leave them set up alongside your shiny new purchase, but the reality is that a lot of people won't have the space - either that or their wife/girlfriend/partner won't be impressed by the addition of another box under the TV and the old one will have to go to make room for it!
A lot of people will probably contemplate selling off their old consoles and games to fund their new console, but can you really face not playing some of those great games from this gen again? No more inFamous? No more Uncharted? No more Gears of War? No more Halo 4? No more Red Dead Redemption? Not sure I want to go down that route.
4) Can I actually afford any of this?
Both the PS4 and Xbox One consoles are up for pre-order at Amazon, both priced at £599.99 and at Zavvi, this time at £399.99. I hope that Amazon are wildly off the mark with their prices, but I suspect Zavvi might be a lot closer, if not right on the money. £400 for a new console with no games to play on it? Woah...
And speaking of games, Zavvi are listing a number of PS4 titles for pre-order at £49.99. I'm a little surprised here and think Zavvi might have shot themselves in the foot by getting these listed early. I wouldn't be surprised to see the recommended retail price for PS4/Xbox One games being another £5 to £10 more than that.
Why? Because games for these new consoles are going to become far more expensive to make. If we have greater graphical fidelity, that means that we are going to see much more detail in textures and models. That means that those textures and models are going to have to be higher resolution (in the case of textures) and more complex (in the case of models). Both of those will take longer to create, leading to an increased amount of development time, which equates to a higher salary paid to the development team. That increases the cost to produce the game which means that the publisher is going to pass that price on to the consumer.
Offline multiplayer? How much is it going to cost me to sit on the sofa with both of my kids playing a game together? One of the things I loved about Wii U is that Nintendo made it backwards compatible not only with all the Wii software, but with all the Wii controllers and peripherals too. I bought a Wii U and Nintendoland and using my existing collection of Wii controllers we could have a fantastic 4 player game with the whole family involved. If I want to play four players on either the PS4 or Xbox One, how much am I going to have to spend? Another £150? Probably.
It begs the question why Sony and Microsoft couldn't have made their new consoles backwards compatible with controllers in the same way Nintendo have? Instead Sony have forced the Move technology on us by including it in the controller, rather than as an optional peripheral and Microsoft have done the same with Kinect by including it in the box.
The obvious answer is: money. They both stand to make money from consumers by forcing us to pay again for additional controllers. So we're now looking at paying in the region of £500+ for a new console, an extra controller and a copy of FIFA 14 come Christmas? I doubt that I'll be paying that.
Conclusion
Unless there are some BIG surprises at E3 and over the coming months regarding cost, I think I will be waiting a while to join the next generation. I just can't justify the cost.
As a side note, if I was offered the two consoles for free and told I could only take one, right now I would probably take... the PS4. Purely because where my existing consoles are setup I don't think I would have enough room for Kinect to work, which pretty much rules out the Xbox One for me. Nice one, Microsoft.
Sunday, 25 November 2012
Minecraft is coming to Raspberry Pi! (With FAQ!)
Yes, Minecraft really is coming to the Raspberry Pi! Ever since the Pi was announced I am fairly sure that one of the most frequently asked questions on the forums has been whether or not it will be able to run Minecraft. There have been numerous attempts to get it running, with oodles of threads created over in the forum.
People have had some success getting the server running, but as far as I am aware running Minecraft itselt has remained frustratingly out of reach. People have suggested porting other similar software (like Minetest) and one enterprising father and son combination has even created their own clone called Blocky which is well worth checking out!
But yesterday changed EVERYTHING, with an official announcement from Mojang that they were bringing Minecraft to Raspberry Pi by porting Minecraft Pocket Edition. This has obviously led to a flurry of interest and excitement in both the Minecraft and Raspberry Pi communities with loads of questions flying back and forth. In order to attempt to answer some of these, allow me to present the Minecraft Pi Edition FAQ!
Minecraft Pi Edition FAQ
What is Minecraft?
Minecraft is a sandbox construction game where you can build anything you can imagine. It also has scary monsters, like creepers who tend to want to destroy what you have built.
If you want to know more, just go to YouTube and type in Minecraft!
Source: http://www.mojang.com/games/
What is Minecraft Pi Edition?
Minecraft Pi Edition is a version of Minecraft: Pocket Edition that comes with a revised feature set and support for multiple programming languages.
Source: http://www.mojang.com/2012/11/minecraft-is-coming-to-the-raspberry-pi/
What is Minecraft Pocket Edition?
Minecraft Pocket Edition is a cut-down version of Minecraft for Android and iOS devices.
The current version of the software concentrates on the creative building and the primitive survival aspect of the game, and does not contain all the features of the PC and Xbox 360 releases. The current release allows for multiplayer across a local wireless network.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft#Minecraft.C2.A0.E2.80.93_Pocket_Edition
How much will it cost?
Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zero.
Source: http://www.mojang.com/2012/11/minecraft-is-coming-to-the-raspberry-pi/
Will it have multiplayer?
Unclear at present, although the following comment in the original post on Mojang's website suggest that it will have LAN multiplayer:
"You could organise the cheapest LAN party of all time..."
It's worth noting that the current version of Pocket Edition does support multiplayer across a local wireless network.
Source: http://www.mojang.com/2012/11/minecraft-is-coming-to-the-raspberry-pi/
What will I be able to do with it?
The possibilities are massive. You could organise the cheapest LAN party of all time, or use the Pi to learn the fundamentals of programming on a miniscule budget. It’s like hacking your way into Minecraft and modifying the game world with code, a bit like being Notch, Jeb, or Nathan, but arguably more fun and less stressful.
You can start by building structures in the traditional Minecraft way, but once you’ve got to grips with the in-game features, there’s opportunity to break open the code and use programming language to manipulate things in the game world. You’ll be learning new skills through Minecraft.
Source: http://www.mojang.com/2012/11/minecraft-is-coming-to-the-raspberry-pi/
What programming languages will I be able to use?
Not known at present, as soon as more details are available I will update this!
Where can I see it in action?
You can see it in action here!
Source: http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2603
When will it be released?
"Soon" is all we know at present. The announcement was made on 24 November 2012, and was described as "available to download soon" but specific timescales are not yet known.
Source: http://www.mojang.com/2012/11/minecraft-is-coming-to-the-raspberry-pi/
Will there be server software?
Not known at present, as soon as more details are available I will update this!
How are they doing 3D in an X Window?
From Daniel Frisk on Twitter: "actually, it's "fake". We check if the win dimensions has changed and if so recreate the glucontext"
Source: http://twitter.com/danfrisk
I thought Minecraft needed lots of memory? Will I need the 512Mb version of the Raspberry Pi?
Daniel Frisk has said "we'll try to at least run it on the 256"
(It's worth mentioning that my son has an Archos 101 Android tablet that has 256Mb of RAM and that can run Minecraft Pocket Edition. However that's obviously no guarantee that the Pi Edition will also work in 256Mb of RAM.)
Source: http://twitter.com/danfrisk
Sunday, 27 May 2012
HDMI to VGA for Pi
The 19" TV in my study only has one HDMI port. To be fair, this is not uncommon on a screen of this size, but it did mean faffing about with a HDMI switch if I wanted to connect my Pi.
Fortunately someone over on the official Rasberry Pi forums found this at Amazon:
I decided to grab one and had been using it quite happily until today...
It seems that the HDMI-to-VGA cable I have (the Amazon neewer one) draws some power from my Pi. Presumably it needs some to make the chip work that converts the signal. I've no idea how much exactly, but it might explain some of the power problems I've been having!
I played with Debian a lot yesterday, fiddling about with configurations and trying various games (Scummvm, Doom, Quake 3, Pingus) all without any issues.
Today I decided to try out OpenELEC and kept having problems with the screen on my monitor blanking out for a second or so and then coming back. Very annoying. I tried switching to a normal HDMI cable and the problem went away, so I concluded that it must be this cable drawing power from my Pi.
Now as I was saying, I was having some power problems previously, even with a genuine Samsung Galaxy S II charger, which I think without checking provides 700ma. That prompted me to switch to a powered USB hub, with the mouse and keyboard plugged into that on two ports and a third port providing power back to the Pi, leaving a fourth port spare.
Having reached the end of my tether with the screen blanking out this evening I considered not running the Pi from the USB hub and instead using the Samsung charger JUST for the Pi and the powered hub for everything else. I decided I didn't really want to do this as it meant having two separate devices plugged in to use my Pi and I was already a bit annoyed at having to use a powered hub.
Then I remembered that I have some 2.5" hard drive enclosures that come with Y-USB cables. The idea is that you plug both USB plugs in and one provides power and data connection and the second just provides additional power for more hungry drives. As I don't actually own a drive that's ever needed this second connector plugged in I decided I could sacrifice one of these cables.
A quick Google search showed that I would still only get 5v of power on the cable (I was initially concerned I would get 10v and blow my Pi!) but estimates on amps varied between 600 to 1000 ma.
I decided to go for it and grabbed a spare micro USB cable and one of these Y-USB cables and got busy. I didn't bother connecting the data wires as this is purely intended for powering the Pi, just connected the red/black wires.
Plugged it in, turned it on and it works perfectly, the screen blanking is gone!
Hopefully this might help out someone else when they're having a frustrating day...
EDIT: Forgot to mention that I initially had some problems in OpenELEC that I didn't have in Debian with what I can only describe as "sparkly bits" on certain screens. This is easily fixed by following instructions here:
http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting#Interference_visible_on_a_HDMI_or_DVI_monitor
EDIT: Forgot to mention that I initially had some problems in OpenELEC that I didn't have in Debian with what I can only describe as "sparkly bits" on certain screens. This is easily fixed by following instructions here:
http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting#Interference_visible_on_a_HDMI_or_DVI_monitor
Sunday, 20 May 2012
OpenTTD
Have spent part of my day learning how to play OpenTTD, having NEVER played a Transport Tycoon game before. My curiosity was piqued having heard of efforts to port this to the Pi. You can read more about that here:
http://blogs.arcsoftwareconsultancy.com/pi/2012/05/01/open-transport-tycoon/
http://blogs.arcsoftwareconsultancy.com/pi/2012/05/14/update-on-openttd/
If you're like me and have never played this game before, check it out here:
http://www.openttd.org/en/
Needless to say, it's a great little game and I'm looking forward to seeing a fully working (and hopefully optimised) version of it running on my Pi.
http://blogs.arcsoftwareconsultancy.com/pi/2012/05/01/open-transport-tycoon/
http://blogs.arcsoftwareconsultancy.com/pi/2012/05/14/update-on-openttd/
If you're like me and have never played this game before, check it out here:
http://www.openttd.org/en/
Needless to say, it's a great little game and I'm looking forward to seeing a fully working (and hopefully optimised) version of it running on my Pi.
Distro Issues
Spent a frustrating morning trying to get the recently released Slackware distribution running on my Pi. I have no doubt that it will be great when problems are ironed out and I have nothing but praise and admiration for the person (or persons) responsible for porting it to the Pi, but it's just not ready for prime-time yet.
The main two problems I encountered were that I could not get my network connection working and I was experiencing lots of problems using my wireless mouse/keyboard.
Now the first of these problems may be down to my lack of Linux knowledge, but after numerous Google searches and checking of files, running of ifconfig and netconfig I was still getting no nearer to getting it working.
The second problem, with my wireless mouse/keyboard exhibited as lots of lag between keypresses or repeating my keypresses or just not picking up on them. This was a problem I had seen previously on Debian which turned out to be down to my power supply. I've since replaced that (now using a powered USB hub) and they are working perfectly in Debian. I wonder if Slackware is using more power than Debian and therefore affecting the mouse/keyboard and potentially the ethernet too?
If you want to try it for yourself, you can pick it up here:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=6132
Anyway, back to Debian I went and decided to get the problems with the display sorted out. Here I had two problems, text was too small so as to be virtually unreadable and I had fat black borders at the top and bottom of the screen.
Now I am sure the small text is perfect if you are on a 32" or 37" or 40" (or even bigger) screen, but at present my Pi is hooked up to a 19" screen, so I needed to find out how I changed the resolution.
I referred to the following two pages:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3042
http://elinux.org/R-Pi_ConfigurationFile
These (particularly the first link) should tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the config.txt file. I set hdmi_mode=4 and then after a bit of trial and error I got the overscan settings perfect.
Next up, installing Chromium using the instructions here:
http://myraspberrypiexperience.blogspot.co.uk/p/chromium-browser.html
The main two problems I encountered were that I could not get my network connection working and I was experiencing lots of problems using my wireless mouse/keyboard.
Now the first of these problems may be down to my lack of Linux knowledge, but after numerous Google searches and checking of files, running of ifconfig and netconfig I was still getting no nearer to getting it working.
The second problem, with my wireless mouse/keyboard exhibited as lots of lag between keypresses or repeating my keypresses or just not picking up on them. This was a problem I had seen previously on Debian which turned out to be down to my power supply. I've since replaced that (now using a powered USB hub) and they are working perfectly in Debian. I wonder if Slackware is using more power than Debian and therefore affecting the mouse/keyboard and potentially the ethernet too?
If you want to try it for yourself, you can pick it up here:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=6132
Anyway, back to Debian I went and decided to get the problems with the display sorted out. Here I had two problems, text was too small so as to be virtually unreadable and I had fat black borders at the top and bottom of the screen.
Now I am sure the small text is perfect if you are on a 32" or 37" or 40" (or even bigger) screen, but at present my Pi is hooked up to a 19" screen, so I needed to find out how I changed the resolution.
I referred to the following two pages:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3042
http://elinux.org/R-Pi_ConfigurationFile
These (particularly the first link) should tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the config.txt file. I set hdmi_mode=4 and then after a bit of trial and error I got the overscan settings perfect.
Next up, installing Chromium using the instructions here:
http://myraspberrypiexperience.blogspot.co.uk/p/chromium-browser.html
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