Evan's Crazy DevBlog

Araknoid v1.1

2007-07-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

I figured that since I'm going to be posting again, I might as well post the new version of Araknoid with high scores. I'm almost certain that there is still a bug in the high score system and in the dialog box code, and I don't intend to fix them. Sorry, but it's been so long since I've even worked with this project and I just want to move on. As of now, Araknoid v1.1 will act as a simple example of my abilities as well as the abilities of XNA and those who wrote helper code (particle engine, XNAFont, etc). Thank you for your help, I look forward to your future projects. For those that are interested in downloading the v1.1, I am currently hosting it on my Wisconsin account.

Download Araknoid v1.1 now!

Whaaaa?!

2007-07-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

Holy crap. Well, as some of you may have noticed...well, who am I kidding, there are none of you anymore. But if you did exist, you may have noticed that I haven't posted in a really, really, really, really, really, really.........................really, really,really long time. So, why have I not posted in this long amount of time? Well, it's complicated. I haven't really been programming at all in the past months due to my recent high school graduation and ensuing college preparation. The move from high school to college had almost entirely taken over my life. If you were wondering, I'll be going to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall for majoring in Computer Science. With roughly a month and a half of summer left, I should have a decent amount of time to do various programming projects, and maybe even a small game or two. One would think that a Computer Science major would be programming constantly, but...you know....I had stuff to do. So today I said to myself "hey, I should check out my devblog" and whaddaya know, I had a comment from Zygote on my last post (ZOMG!!!!!1!11). Huzzah, but I'm sorry I let you down Zygote. I promise that I will continue to program things in XNA as well as post about them. Here's to the resurrection of my devblog. Stay tuned.

Edit: Also, I forgot to mention one thing. Since I'm going to college, I bought a laptop. It's pretty decent and should aid me in my game making journeys. If you are interested in the specs, check out www.xfire.com/profile/eogas

Good Times

2007-02-16T21:16:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while because I haven't been working with XNA as much as I used to. With the upcoming Dream-Build-Play competition, I plan on using it much more. I was originally going to release the final build of Araknoid today, but I played it over and realized that there was a bug in the high score system. As soon as it is worked out I will upload it. My brother and I are also beginning the endeavor to making a full game engine on which we will build a cool game (which has not been decided upon yet). So far it is basically a soft-attach third person camera following a textured model of a person. Animation has been achieved through the use of The XNA Animation Component Library, which is actually quite nice. As soon as my brother (the artist) makes some animations for his model, this engine should start taking shape.

Oh No!

2006-12-28T10:40:00.000-08:00

So today I was finally going to get around to releasing that new version of Araknoid with high scores, but I just found a new bug. The high scores work fine, and it should be a simple fix. If I didn't have band practice today, I would say to expect it today, but since I do, I will try to have it fixed and ready to play by tommorow.

Sorry For Not Posting

2006-12-12T17:38:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted in a while, and that DOES reflect the amount that I have been working on Araknoid, but today is a good day. The final version (1.0) of XNA GSE is now available here. I "converted" Araknoid with a little trouble from the Mercury Particle Engine (JimJams, I hope you don't mind, but I recompiled under v1.0 myself). More good news is that I actually got high scores to work (finally). It was actually a very simple fix (multiplying a variable by 2, haha). I will proceed to make a new bitmap font for high scores and more levels in the following days.

Pwned!

2006-12-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

That's right, I pwned DirectX with C++. Ok, I just got through the first tutorial on MSDN, and I must say, it's not as hard as most people's code makes it look. It would probably be a lot easier if I knew C++ (I only dabbled with it in middle school), but I plan on getting a C++ book for Christmas. Don't worry, I am not leaving XNA. In fact, I am currently attempting to get high scores to work with Araknoid (with little progress). I shoudln't say that. The scores load up fine, they just don't save correctly, leaving an unreadable file that crashes the program when it tries to load it (You have not conquered me yet, Araknoid). Once I finish this project, I hope to jump immediately to a new project (hopefully 3D (and hopefully with a non-Beta version of XNA)). Stay tuned for more info.

Ready to be Downloaded

2006-11-24T07:48:00.000-08:00

Ok, I just fixed a mouse bug where the game skips straight from the game over screen to level 1 without showing the startup screen again. Do I think this warrants a version increase? Yes I do.

Download Araknoid Now!

I Know It's Been A While

2006-11-21T20:10:00.000-08:00

...but I finally have a user (non-developer) playable build ready. If you saw the first one, it's not much different. The only changes are that it is playable multiple times, and that it runs on Beta 2.

EDIT: It looks like no one can run it, so I've set up a new build that actually includes the application manifest (imagine that). Hopefully it works now. Oh yea, I also forgot to mention that it's also smaller now at a mere 1.38 MB zipped. It would be smaller, but the runtime takes up a bit of space. Either way, you can download it in about 10 seconds (assuming you have broadband, idk about dial-up).

EDIT: It still looks like no one can run it, so I got some help on MSDN and it definitely works now (Thanks Leaf). The only steps before running are to install the XNA runtime and run the DirectX Web Installer. Both are included in the zip.

Download Araknoid Now

Beta 2 and Pretty Additive Colors

2006-11-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

With the onslaught of Beta 2, I figured I should probably convert Araknoid, and I did. There were a few hassles here and there, but they ended up being very easy to fix. Araknoid is completely up to date with the Beta 2 version of the XNA Framework. The makers of the Mercury Particle Engine have also been making progress and have released their v1.0 beta. One big change is that the colors no longer make use of SpriteBlendMode.AlphaBlend, but SpriteBlendMode.Additive. This turns out to give the particles an entirely new look, one which I like a lot. Screenshots will be available when I make some more levels.

Pointers Hurt My Brain

2006-10-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

So, over the past week, I have been up to three things instead of programming Araknoid:
1. Preparing for a show with my band.
2. Earning big cash money on the stock market simulation.
3. Trying to learn C

The hardest one has become number three simply for the fact that pointers SUCK! Other than that, C is pretty cool. If anyone was wondering, I'm learning from K&R on the suggestion of a friend (and half the internet). After I'm done, I think I'll mess around with DirectX then move onto C++. Haha, I've been programming so much I initially punctuated that last sentence with a semicolon. I'll be learning C++ from Stroustrup. Here's to a close future of pointers and self memory management. I'm not saying goodbye to C# by a long shot. I'm just trying to gain a better appreciation of the art. (No, I'm not learning assembly)

Ouch!

2006-10-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's what all my teachers said at conferences yesterday (4.000) when I told them that I wouldn't be in class because I was getting my wisdom teeth out. To tell you the truth, it didn't hurt, because I was asleep, but it sure as hell hurts now. This is good news to xna lovers, because all the time I would have spent doing things (like eating), I can now spend programming the rest of Araknoid. Oh yes, speaking of technology, I finally broke down and got a cell phone. Don't get excited, it's not uber cool or anything because I'm broke as hell. Lol. I hope to finish the game soon.

Time Consumer

2006-10-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to mention why I haven't posted in about a week. To tell the truth, I haven't really done much work on Araknoid. Much of my time during this week has been spent researching and acting on said research in the Wisconsin Stock Market Simulation (www.wisconsinsms.com) Yeah I know, it sounds really nerdy right? The thing is, my team is actually doing pretty well, especially since we started about 4 days late. Don't worry though, I think it will only be a few more days that we will be selling and buying stocks before we settle down with a number of good ones. I just can't stop researching. It seems so important that it's taking over my entire life, but pretty soon, Araknoid will again fill that role.

Organization Is Key

2006-10-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of this project, I have added a lot of content, and, as most game programmers know, content is usually organized into separate folders and subfolders. As of today, my content follows this norm. After viewing the tangled mass of files in the project folder, I decided that it was finally time to make this program pretty in an organizational way. Now, when viewing the Araknoid folder, I see four neat folders instead of a bunch of random file types and names thrown together in alphabetical order. Now if I could only make my code that organized...

Not Much Going On

2006-10-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I haven't worked on the game since my last post, but hey, can you blame me? So what if you can blame me. It's going to be the coolest game ever, so you better be patient. Anyway, I have consulted the help of a friend to make more awesome backgrounds for my levels while I continue to endeavor the realms of free music loops on the internet. The only problem is that there are none. At least no good ones. I have recently resorted to making my own, which didn't turn out well the first few attempts. Maybe I need some backgrounds to inspire me?

Developers Only

2006-10-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

I just read this post on the MSDN forums and it spells bad news for the GSE Beta. Apparently, for the beta at least, one must have it installed in order to run games written with it. That sucks. So this means that only XNA developers or people who download GSE can play Araknoid. Don't worry, I'm sure Microsoft will fix it eventually.

Finally

2006-10-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

This is what you've all been waiting for. An extremely limited, may crash your computer, uncommented, alpha release. It can be downloaded from this location. Anyone who develops with XNA should have no problem executing this app by simply double clicking Araknoid.exe, but I have not tested it on a non-developer PC. I would assume that it would also work, but I'm not making any promises. So, on to the good stuff. In this first release you will find that:

- there are only three levels
- you can't die
- there are three special blocks and two normal
- there is no menu system
- the third level is pretty

Lol, yea, thats why they call it an alpha. Please comment on this post about your experience of Araknoid and what, if anything, you think should be changed.

Almost playable

2006-10-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

Today, I added the beginnings of gamestates. Basically, the game still starts up without a menu, but at the end of a level (all blocks gone), the score gets the remaining time added to it. Soon after, the next level starts up. Pretty snazzy if I might say myself. Just a couple more details and it should be playable.

Prepare to Launch

2006-10-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

Cool, I finally found all the audio I need and have it implemented, plus, I have created a new block. I'm not going to tell you what it is, you can try to figure it out from this screenshot. It's the yellow one. There is also a clue in the screenshot (the new level). Oh yeah, I also added a countdown timer and a lives system. This weird game is coming along nicely. It should only be a short while longer before I have an alpha release available. Stay tuned.

Sounds Like Audio...

2006-09-30T15:03:00.000-07:00

My friends, we (I) have audio. It turns out that XACT is actually really easy to use. I don't know why everyone always rants about it. It seems pretty decent to me. Anyways, I have sound, and I will have more sound once I find some more free ones. Right now, all I have is a few from www.findsounds.com, but so far they have proven to be hard to find. I may just have to resort to making my own. Not that I wouldn't want to, it would just prolong development. Which brings up another point of interest, music. As one can find out by clicking my first link on the sidebar, I am a musician, but I cannot seem to get the grasp of fruityloops. It seems like it would be easier to record a song than to make on on such an application. So if anyone is good at making game music for free (lol) let me know, because I'm not.

New Level and Repairs

2006-09-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

About an hour ago, I made a new level for Araknoid, but it revealed a major flaw in my arachnid sprite. My antialiasing was set up for a white background, meaning, there was a white halo around it when it was black and over a nonwhite background. I have since remade the sprite so that it has "background friendly" antialiasing.

Whoops.

2006-09-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

Guess what I forgot to put in the first post...Screenshots! I took two screeshots yesterday to show off the emitters. They are available here and here. Feel free to tell me what you think.

First Post

2006-09-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hello first few visitors, this is the first post of my development blog. The project I am currently working on is an XNA arkanoid game called Araknoid. No, I'm not an idiot who can't spell arkanoid. This is the first spider-based arkanoid clone equipped with particle effects (courtesy of the Mercury Particle Engine by JimJams and jsandesr) and a baseball bat...that's right, a baseball bat.