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The Game Developer's Kitchen

1 week 4 days ago

A drawing of the movie poster from Scott Pilgrim vs the World

I went to see this movie with friends yesterday, and really enjoyed it. I hadn't read the books but maybe I enjoyed it even more for not knowing anything.

Some weird feelings are settling out for me today, so I'd like to write about them now, while they are fresh.

Games' Symbolism is Formative

2 weeks 2 days ago

Image of a space plane about to be hit by a fireball; there is a line T=0 in the middle and the plane is labelled chicken, fireball egg illustrating the problem of which came first.

Most games have what's called an "update cycle". One way or another, there are a bunch of entities/objects with an update () function, which is called periodically (usually every frame.) These might control enemy logic, particle positions, animations, etc.

Here is something that I have found to be incredibly helpful in reducing bugs.

5 weeks 6 hours ago

Legend of Elkanah Banner with quote from newgrounds user saying Bible Sux

I recently finished a game, The Legend of Elkanah. It's a simple side project that is supposed to play something like a storybook, based on the Bible story 1 Samuel 1, with a bit of a feminist bent.

I have to say it's not very good, but it's interesting to look at why:

Pacing

6 weeks 2 days ago

Actually, I mean to talk about a far more important topic: the separation of Game and World.

Spaghetti Code

A piece of software is, first, an organic whole. However, we've all had to unravel somebody else's spaghetti (or, better, our own) and know that it's useful to break that whole into organized pieces. You might use object oriented programming, for instance.

8 weeks 6 days ago

Image detailing North American celebrations occurring in the first part of of July

First, to everybody in Canada and the USA: Happy Canada Day and Happy America Day; we're somewhere between them (July 2) right now. I had a great day yesterday riding with some friends, one who is visiting from the USA.

I had a special four part blog series prepared but, really, it was boring and not my style. I'd rather just blog about what I'm doing at the moment or whatever strikes my fancy.