MakeMacGames

Month: August 2005

  • Subversion Revisited

    A while back I wrote about moving to Subversion for revision control. To this point it has worked well for the little I have needed it. But as I begin ramping up my development efforts I find that I spend more time on my PowerBook than I previously have. This has introduced a new wrinkle…

  • Book Review: Game Programming All In One, 2nd Edition

    Game Programming All In One, 2nd Edition — by Jonathan S. Harbour http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=outerlevelcor-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=1592003834&fc1=000000&=1&lc1=0000ff&bc1=000000&lt1=_blank&IS2=1&f=ifr&bg1=ffffff&f=ifr Before starting this book, I had partially read at least half a dozen game programming books over the past ten years. They covered topics ranging from simple game programming to 3D engines mostly for Windows on the PC. Since my switch to…

  • No Regrets

    The other day my wife and I were invited to a floor party in our apartment building by a couple in their sixties. We’ve been friendly with them ever since we moved in three years ago, but have never really gotten to know them. We spent an amazing evening listening to their life stories. They…

  • Game Project Plan Update: Describe Game Idea

    I’ve marked off “1. Describe the basic game idea” in the “Write a Design Document” section of my project plan. I’m now working hard on the next three sections: 2. Define the game play (players, enemies, goals, etc) 3. Define game engine requirements (view, player movements, controls, save & load, etc) 4. Sketch graphics ideas…

  • The Mac Gaming Market

    Thanks to radioact1ve for passing on a link to this article over on Next Generation in the comments section of my recent Fruitful Weekend post: The Evolution of Mac Gaming by Christian Svensson Aspyr director of development, Glenda Adams, sheds light on the challenges and opportunities facing game developers and publishers on the Mac. The…

  • Free Game Graphics and Sprites

    Ari Feldman has produced a collection of free static and animated graphics (or sprites), called SpriteLib, that can be used freely by anyone in their games as long as they adhere to the Common Public License. Seems like a good resource for “developer art” during game engine development and prototyping.

  • Power of Passion

    I’m amazed at what I can get done when I’m passionate about something. I’m an independent software contract developer during the day. The majority of work I perform for clients is firmly planted in the corporate financial world. It pays pretty well, but I find it extremely boring and unfulfilling. I spend many hours a…

  • Fruitful Weekend

    I entered this past weekend with the goal to spend a significant amount of time on my game project, working on the game design and prototyping a simple game engine. With a ton of coffee, some loud music, and plenty of time, I was able to get a rough first draft of my game design…

  • Game Project Plan Update: Language and Framework Selection

    After completing the book “Game Programming All In One” as a tutorial on game development — review coming soon. I’ve been evaluating my options for moving forward. As simple as the Allegro Framework made learning the basics of game programming, I was not entirely happy with the performance that it gave me on the Mac…

  • Indie Game Developer: Net War

    I just recently found another indie game developer toiling away at his project and blogging about it. Carpe Delirium is working on an online game called Net War built entirely with JavaScript to run in a browser. His graphics are simple, but nicely stylized and he has put together a very cool range indicator when…