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Using Excel to Create Your Game’s Binary Data Files {07-31-2009}

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here yet, but I’m currently in the middle of developing a new Blackberry game that I hope to have on App World when I’m complete (as I get closer to completion I’ll put some screen shots up). I’ve always wanted to put an application or game up on one [...]

Blackberry Tour Owners – What Do You Think? {07-22-2009}

I have quite a lot of RIM and Blackberry topics swirling around in my head – but those can wait for another day and blog post. I got my Tour a few days ago, and I have to say: I absolutely LOVE it. And though I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a die-hard Crackberry [...]

How Appropriate. You Fight Like a Cow: A Review of Tales of Monkey Island {07-19-2009}

A lengthy title, but one of the most memorable lines from one of the greatest computer games ever created. I speak, of course, of “The Secret of Monkey Island”, a point-and-click adventure released by LucasArts (then Lucasfilm Games) in 1990. For the uninitiated, The Secret of Monkey Island and its 3 subsequent sequels chronicle the [...]

A Favorite CS Quote of Mine {07-11-2009}

This past week I’ve been in Chicago (and Indiana for a couple days) having a blast and enjoying a little vacation time – I really enjoy this city. Back to rainy New Hampshire tomorrow – a little sad to leave, but it will be good to be home. In the mean time, I thought I’d [...]

Network Any Vintage Computer! (Kind Of) {07-03-2009}

The idea of computers communicating with each other has fascinated me from the very beginning. When I was little, the world of networking was a “mysterious” one, as I didn’t own a modem until I was 12 and had only experienced the idea of computers talking to each other from TV and movies (read: War [...]

Ghostbusters: The Video Game {06-30-2009}

Before going any further, I’ll preface this by saying I am a insanely huge Ghostbusters fan. It’s been my favorite movie since I first saw it when I was little, and all subsequent 5 billion viewings. I’m surprised my C64 Ghostbusters disk still works from the number of times I played the game, and I [...]

5 Reasons for Putting Your Personal Code Into Subversion {06-27-2009}

If you’ve ever programmed for an organization with multiple developers, you’ve most likely used some kind of system to synchronize, combine, and version code. Without a such a tool, changes to the same files amongst two or more people can get very confusing and hard to manage very quickly. However, even if you’re just dealing [...]

Classic Gaming Review – Quackshot {06-25-2009}

A Fun Activity to Share One of the interests my girlfriend and I share is our love of gaming, specifically retro gaming. She did a lot of Genesis gaming when she was a kid, while I was exposed mainly to C64 and Nintendo gaming, so we have a fun time sharing our favorites with the [...]

From Pong to Platformers – An Introduction to Game Physics – Part 4 {06-21-2009}

Acceleration for Better Goomba Stomping So now we understand positioning an object on a screen, moving the object around using the principles of velocity, and how to handle collisions with walls and other simple objects. While we can do quite a lot with these simple fundamentals, there is one more that is key to modeling [...]

From Pong to Platformers – An Introduction to Game Physics – Part 3 {06-21-2009}

Thinking Inside the Box However, now that we have movement, we run into an issue. When we think of a classic video game, we think of boundaries, such as the edge of the screen, or floors/walls/ceilings, or other objects. In many games, such as platformers, these boundaries will stop the object from moving. In games [...]

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