bugs

Hello. Right now I am currently working on making the tank fire, but the problem is that the rotation matrix for the missile does not take the tanks current rotation into perspective. So I have to find a way to fix this, as this is causing the missiles to fire upwards. They do go in the right direction that I would like. Also I have downloaded a new tank model and I am currently working on implementing it.

Hopefully though I will have the enemies working so they start to move toward the tank. Then I just have to set up some collision detection and scoring system and then thats all the gameplay I wanted to add. Although I might add more.

I still have to create a model that has a decent grass texture on it as the one I have right now Is incredibly boring. Anyway I need to get back to work.

Camera working!

Ok guys so I haven't being doing much game programming lately. I have been busy building up my website.

Although tonight I have managed to get my camera working. I did this by using matrices. Firstly I created a camera rotation matrix using the following lines


Matrix rotationMatrix;
            Matrix.CreateRotationY(MathHelper.ToRadians(cameraYaw), out rotationMatrix);

as you can see I first initialize the matrix using Matrix rotationMatrix then I go onto create a value for how much I would like to rotate. cameraYaw is a const variable set to 2.0f.

and using input I then determine whether or not I would like to set this rotation matrix into effect.
Like so...


    if (keyboardstate.IsKeyDown(Keys.D))
            {
                cameraYaw -= spinRate;
              
            }

So thats all working. Now I am going to work to make it so that the camera goes in the direction of the target. Hopefully that shouldn't be to hard.

Anyway once I get that up and running I will definitely get some missiles firing. I have decided that since this is my first 3D game I am not going to go into to much detail and just get the thing finished. For instance I was going to split the tank model into 2 models so that I could rotate the top of the tank like a turret on a real tank would but that would be too much work. And I am probably going to change the model again as I am not quite happy with it. Anyway right now the missiles will only fire towards whichever direction the tank is facing.

After getting this set up I will find a way to make the terrain solid. And set up some collision boxes around the tank and the terrain. Having done this I will find a way to add gravity to my game to make sure that my tank is constantly on the ground :D

Anyway back to work!

progress?

So guys recently I have been working a lot on my new website. Putting most of my efforts into it. Right now I am writing some articles for it that will hopefully bring a few more people to the site.

On the programming side of life, I have blitzed through all the tasks my computer teacher gave us in class. I am his favorite programming student :D. So I am learning something after all :D.

Anyway right now I am going to work my way through the new book that came.

Microsoft XNA game studio 3.0 unleashed. And by the end of it I will have a cool 3D game. Learning how to do a couple of things on my way that will eventually lead me to creating my own game.

Please remember to check out my new site and sign up for the forums! :D

http://www.gamercity.co.uk and if you like what I am doing with the site please tell me in the forums :D

Study time

Hi

I cannot really do much work today as I really need to study for my computing and chemistry test that I have coming tomorrow and the next day. So all the things I have lined up for today will have to wait. I am just going to try and add a skybox then probably call it a night. anyway more info tomorrow as well as a small update on how my debut at training has gone at the new club I am going to! :D

Bye for now!

Enter the Matrix..

Hi guys so I have just found out that to fix my model I need to create a matrix for it which is similar to that in the Chase camera sample from the XNA website

So I need to figure out how I would port that to my engine. I am happy though as I managed to fix the problem

that the models center was not where I wanted it to be. Although hopefully when I get back from school I can

quickly find someway to create a matrix for my model. After that I am going to force myself to create a skybox because

the background looks a little dull. I might also texture the flat terrain model I have with something that resembles

grass. And also find a way to texture the tank that I have downloaded.

So my list of tasks for today is as follows:

texture ground

create skybox

create matrix for tank model

texture tank model.

research how to make solid ground

- this should be easy as I think I know what I am doing here. Just a quick bit of collision detection and

if this returns true then I will simply move the models position up a bit.

anyway time to get ready for school.

Yet another update :D

Hi guys Just thought I would show of a picture of my current game engine. As you can see its still very primitive but that will hopefully change soon. There is a small bug with the drawing of the tank that I need to correct but other than that its coming along pretty nicely(although a bit slow) But since this is my first proper 3D game I am just thinking that any progress is good progress. Hopefully tonight I will be able to fix the object center point bug and I will get some cubes attacking you and some missiles firing from the tank. After that is done I will probably change the terrain to something that resembles grass. Its going to be flat though but to make it more interesting I might add some bill-boarded trees. The skybox as you can see is not up and running yet. I have been too busy helping my dad dig up the garden. All in all I have gotten less than I would have liked to this weekend.

Anyway time to go Cya later!

Small update

I have just joined technorati to try and get a few more people to my blog. I will keep you updated as to whether or not this is any good. Hopefully it will be :D

Anyway I am having a tough time figuring out how to make it so that the model goes in the right direction. Hopefully I will find something good and useful in the sample I just downloaded from XNA. I am actually astounded that XNA have such high quality samples which allows a lot of beginners the ability to dive straight into game programming. It has lots of samples ranging from animation to networking and beyond! I should have the basic gameplay mechanics up and running soon though :D

Stay tuned!

Update

I changed the model in my game engine to a cool looking tank model, which I downloaded from turbosquid.com- This is a great site that any game creator should use when trying to look for models(free or otherwise). Anyway right now I am trying to figure out a way to make my tank move in the direction it is facing. Right now I only have the option to move in a positive or negative direction along the X and Z axis. I also fixed a minor bug which caused my model to load facing downwards. Thank god we learned about radians in school last week or else I would not have had a clue!

While I am waiting for some help on the model direction problem. I am going to get the tank firing missiles out its turret. Then I can set up some targets(boxes) which I can try to shoot at! :D It will start to look like a game really soon! I hope :D

Also since getting a new tv yesterday and finding that nobody really needs my old one. I am going to get 2 birds with one stone. My little brother is quite addicted to the PS3 but since it is in my room and connected to the screen my computer is connected to then that means he doesn't get to play it as often as he likes. So It will allow him to play next to me while I am on the computer. And also I have not found a way to record movies of my PS3 on my new screen so by keeping my old screen it will essentially let me get that second bird I was talking about earlier.


anyway it is morning here so I better go grab my breakfast.

More updates Soon as well as a link to download the current version of my game engine.
Although you must have the C# express edition downloaded :D More details to come!

Birthday

Hi guys Its my birthday today and I got a great TV which is a 32" 780p LG from the lh2000 series. I am using it right now and the picture is insanely good I love it. It so big as well. I am just about to try it out with the PS3 and see how much better the picture is. Already I am noticing a difference. Hopefully I will be writing games soon that test the resolution of this thing :D. Anyway I am going to try it out and get a new video walkthrough of another game level so that I have more and better content to put onto my website.

The game I am creating is coming along well I have gotten the forwards and backwards left and right camera working as well as up and down so that I can change my view to see things better. Although I need to add a rotation functionality to it which should be pretty easy. Then I can finally get to work on setting up the animations or importing a new model. I haven't quite decided.

Anyway I will talk to you later I have alot fun to do! :D

Sucess!

I have gotten my camera and movement to work so I can cross of the first thing on my list. Now I am working on getting the animation to work and look good :D. Hopefully with this addition I will start to have the beginning of a decent looking game :D. Remember all the games I make will hopefully be added to my website for free download. How I am going to do this is beyond me but if there is a will there is a way. Also It is my birthday tommorow so happy birthday me! :D Although it will be a working birthday as I am helping my dad dig up the garden so we can lay down some foundations for our new extension! We decided that doing most of it ourselves will be good character building and will also teach us alot about building a house. Which I think is one of my dads dreams. Also it is nice to be working with my dad on a project like this. Although I wish we could just stick to kiteboarding. I am hoping that tommorow will bring a new tv which I can put up in my room. It will be alot better than the one I am currently working with now. Which is about 16" I have had it for years now, and I am thinking that a new tv would be nice. As a celebration me and my friends are going to the cinema. Not this week but next week(jewish new year for some of them)

Anyway back to programming. Right now I am working on getting some basic animations for tiny.x(my model that I use as placeholder) I am thinking that maybe I will need to hire/ask a decent modeller to build me some good(hopefully free) models. I think that the first game I make will be a space game as it will be rather easy to create. Atleast compared to a FPS or something similar. And once I have made it feature complete I am hoping to add networking so that if my friends download it they will be able to play each other. This should hopefully bring a bit of fun to the game and will teach me alot about networking! :D

So tommorow my main goal is to create a skybox for my game and put in some collision detection so you cannot go past it :D I will also add a new spaceship model which I am thinking of stealing from a game example courtesy of XNA game studio. So I better not talk to long or else I will get very little done tonight!

More updates tommorow!

XNA game engine update

Hi guys I am currently working on lots of little things that might make this project remotely interesting, heres a list of things I want done before the end of september:

camera working
animation working
decent level model created and loaded in to scale
decent skybox up and running
maybe add a weapon to the tiny.x model I am using as my test model.
get some sort of physics up and running so I can jump about the game.

Thats all atm as I think this will be more than enough for me to try and accomplish! after all I am still only starting out at this. Although I do have help in the form of the new book I recently purchased which I have to say is quite good. It is providing me with alot of helpful ideas on which I will hopefully expand upon.

Right now in my game/engine I am using a model known well to all directx users as tiny.x which I dont think is that good a choice for me as it will be hard to get it looking quite good with a human model. I am thinking that I will create a small spaceship model which I can make a flying fps with. Or I could try and create a truck with a movable turret which will fire missiles :D

anyway I will post later tonight If I get much done!

XNA latest

So guys I have gotten my new book. microsoft XNA game studio 3.0 unleashed. I have to say it is pretty good. It will help me with alot of things that I had no clue on how I was going to do them. I am currently working my way through the book. I am starting on an unofficial game engine of mine which I have ingeniously called game engine v0.01 which will basically be fps game but it will have lots of things like water rendering and particle systems which I can take on with me to other projects. I would really like to have a game up and running which I will be able to put on my site by christmas :D That would be awesome and hopefully it will bring a bit of traffic to my website. I am thinking that my website's main attraction will be the free games I will provide. But first I need to get some free games so I need to start working on that.

Anyway I will update you later tonight depending on how much I have done to my engine!

update

Hi guys tommorow is the big day! The day I get my video capture card. I can finally start recording my own video reviews of games! I will have decent content to put on my site. I am going to do lots of different reviews of all the latest games and then let you chat amongst your selves on my forums:D My goal right now is to get atleast 3000 page impressions per day but thats like 6 months down the line. And then who knows? 10,000 page views per day is my goal by the time I start applying for Uni. That would be sweet!

Anyway I got the model I created in blender up and running in my game project. Although I need to find out what a decent view matrix would be for a FPS. I am thinking about getting one for XNA and C# as it will also teach me networking. I think it would be awesome to invite my friends on for a game and they can tell me how to improve it. Also it pretty much tells me all the important stuff that I need like view projection matrix and stuff like that. I am going to try and do all the buildings and guns myself but I will have to get someone to model the characters for me as I am terrible at humans. I haven't really tried but I am still learning and the building and cars and guns will be a challenge as it is. I am getting most of the day off tommorow so I can go and start recording some videos for my website :D

I downloaded microsofts free accounting package and it seems pretty cool Although I will have to learn how to use it in a way that is quite professional. I want to run this website as a mock business. As it will be good to learn how everything works. I also want to make sure that I do-not exceed my maximum £200 mark on investment into the site. I want to make it so that this website pays for itself. right now I have bought the domain name and the video capture card. So I want to pay that off. Then I will allow more investment into the site.

thanks for reading!

Update

So guys I ordered a dazzle dvd recorder yesterday and it is going to come tommorow! This will be great as it means I will be able to put my own video reviews of games onto both my site and youtube. This will mean people have a reason to come to my new site as right now it basically doesn't have anything on it. I am hoping that I will be able to complete my first video review by tommorow night and upload it to my site. I also hope that I will be able to get some people to actively visit my new forums which are up and running on my site now! There are only 3 categories but that will change very soon.

Anyway back to game programming. Right now I am going to start work on a sort of FPS which will feature boxes as enemies and rectangles as bosses! It is going to be the next wow-killer I swear. Nah it will be very simple and graphically unappealing but its the technical side of it that will teach me alot! And hopefully if I get most of it coded in I can find a free artist to spice it up a bit. Either that or I will go onto turbosquid.com and just download some free models. This "game" will be in C# and XNA as they are the new loves in my life. I think it will be awesome to complete a game that is mine and not some tutorials or some classic game clone. Although Pong was fun :D This will also be great to show off in computing when I bring in CD's of my game and hopefully get the class to playtest it lol! They would like that if I made it fun enough. A period off school work would be great.

I am hoping I will get the basic terrain and camera up and working tonight so that I have something to work with :D I will also try and get the collision detection working. I am thinking it will be the same as the pong clone I made but I will use 3D things.

Finally partly completed!

So today I switch all my website to one new design which I have been told is alot nicer than the last one. It makes for a more professional website although it took me hours! to get up and running. Even now I dont think that its all fixed and ready but its time for bed :(. I also shattered my previous page impression record today. Over 450 already and America has yet to come online :D Usually when i go to bed i get around 50-100 more page impressions. So hopefully 500+ by tommorow 8 AM :D. I am also hopefully going to get a video capture card tommorow so once I get my playstation set up in my "office" I will be able to provide all my sites viewers with hopefully enjoyable and informative game reviews which hopefully they will go on to talk about in my forums. I want my new site to be a community of people who come together often to talk about the latest games and movies as well as just being social.

Anyway hopefully I will be able to get my first video review up by tommorow or the day after that. At the very latest by next monday :( But if I give quality game reviews hopefully more people will come back again and again.

why???

Why is it that when I switch over from one website layout to the other my website becomes a lot busier than normal? None of the good things are up yet. Its basically an empty shell but its not even midday and I have had nearly 200 impressions already. Granted people might not think that it is alot but my goal is 3 thousand page impressions this month because I am only a couple weeks into this project. Hopefully they will come back when the new website is better and keep coming back to just check out the latest games. But it looks like I am set on getting atleast 3000 page impressions this month. With 800 in the first 6 days I think that I will hopefully hit 4k impressions.

Anyways Right now I am getting the forums up and running. And also I am going to figure out a way to set up the PS3 so that I can easily screen capture gameplay. If I get that up and running it means that when I buy a new game I can easily start reviewing it and let you see what it is like. I think Fifa 10 will be my first video review but thats almost a month away so I have plenty of time to work on my site :D Please check it out at http://www.gamercity.co.uk you might as well everyone else seems to be going on it when it isn't ready.

New Website!

I have got my new website layout up and running now I just need to start adding content to it! I will have a long day ahead of me trying to get this all running. Right now I am working on adding the tutorials and book reviews so that people have a reason to come back to my site. So I will give you an unpdate later tonight I need to get everything up and running!

cya for now!

XNA and C#

Hi guys sorry for not updating in about a week but I have been really busy working on my website and trying to add more content. It will be months before I can compete with the bigger websites but I will do it eventually :D right now I am looking at better designs for my website. I will hopefully get it all sorted by tommorow and have it all transferred and uploaded by tuesday hopefully.

Back to the game development. I am not currenlty working on anything in particular I am just merely modding the games I made with the XNA and C# tutorials. This is fun and it helps me get to grips with the C# syntax which is pretty easy I have to say. Right now I am thinking of buying one of the new XNA books out.

Anyways more tommorow! :D

cya for now