ZS Dev Log: 08/05/2013

I had a spare couple of hours today, and i thought id do a bit of work on Zombie Squash! The screen shot shows basically something you could do in 2 mins, but the zombies and such have some functionality and code behind them (+ i thought it would be nice to upload early images, and when its finished, i can look back and laugh at myself)

Here we can see some zombies and the background. Currently the zombies are animated (i made it so every image can be animated, as all image views are added programmatically) and if tapped will die. I know, its AMAZINGLY basic, but i promise im doing something! The functions to move zombies as well as spawn them anywhere are all in place, and i should stress this is not the final artwork. There is also a menu screen, but all it has is a button to the game.

Next on my TODO list:
Fix any "basics" bugs (so basic functionality, such as movement and spawning)
Continue to play around with the taps to kill (currently there is a how many taps kill to zombie variable)

Make sure everything works fine!( So fix bugs again )
Maybe start on displaying the score on screen

Bézier and B-Spline implementations (in 3D!)

I thought i would upload a few screenshots of my work with creating patches/surfaces in 3D using both a Bézier and B-Spline solution.

Above is an overview of a simple 3D environment. The blue objects are created using a Bézier based implementation while the other objects use a B-Spline based solution. The lines in yellow represent my control points that are used to create the curves.

The Bézier based implementation is a cubic and also deals with normal values, which you can see in the shading on the image above. These are obtained by doing a standard method of finding the tangents in both directions  and then getting the cross product of those two vectors. Higher "t" and "s" values would make the shading look more realistic.

The two B-Spline shapes do not have shading, but as you can see create quads on the patches correctly. The capsule model (in green) was drawing by entering control points myself, showing that any shape could really be drawn with ease as a quick demo of B-Spline curves and its C2 continuity.

I have done much more work in 3D graphics programming (particularly in OpenGL 3) which is more involved in the shading and lighting side of things. Maybe ill share more on some other projects i have done.

A wild video appeared!

So ive been very busy doing many university projects, but i thought i could show a sample of some of the stuff im doing. I made a quick video for a small game demo i created in XNA, called Windows Defender (The Game!). It is a simple 3D shooter with features such as high scores  ever increasing difficulty and fast paced game play.

I will soon be done with a few university projects, and i will most likely upload a few screenshots of other work i have been doing.
Peace out!

Edit: I know the SFX are loud, ha

Tile Match - Complete

So i completed one of my pieces of university work, my small mobile games demo. Here are some screenshots, as well as some information about improvements made from last time.

The main menu screen is very similar to the last post, however ive added a few improvements. You can now change the name of the current player (which is displayed at the top of the menu) and also go to the leader board page.

The game is very similar, when tiles are tapped, they are revealed for a few seconds, then hidden again. The background of the game changes dependant upon the weather in your local area (i thought this was cool!) and there is also a pause button. Additionally  to stop people just dragging tiles to other ones constantly, players will lose 1 off of there score if tiles match incorrectly.

The final main feature i added was the leader board and high score system. When your game is over, if you have achieved a high score  the game will let you know via a quick alert. Scores are saved in a .plist and you can view all the current high scores on the leader board page.


I really have learnt a lot while doing this project, all of which should be able to help with ZS and other objective-c projects. Hopefully ill have more to show soon!

The good news and the bad news!

Hello blog! Long time no see eh? Ok its only been a few weeks, but i haven't had much to post! Dont worry though, i can finally talk about some news, both bad and good, we will do bad first i think!

The Bad News
Unfortunately, i have so many had in dates for university projects this month, im going to find it hard pressed to do any work on ZS this month, which sucks! If i get any done, ill be sure to post it here, as well as any uni work i have to show case.

The Good News!
Due to having so much to do this month, i have very little to do next month, giving me all the time in the world to work on ZS, YAY!! Hopefully ill get a lot done in that time, and actually have some stuff to talk about.


Im also back at my wonderful, wonderful pc and ive been able to power through some games (Bioshock is great, isn't it!) and ill hopefully be able to post more stuff over the coming days, until next time!

Heres what im doing while im doing nothing.

So you may realise im currently doing no work on ZS (words cant tell you how much i want to, im even travailing back to my home early so i can get a good day of work on it), but i thought id show you what i am doing during my easter break. Be prepared, its nothing fancy, and its certainly not a polished application, but it is an iphone game.

The game is for a university project, the idea of which is the reveal hidden symbols under tiles, find the matching tile and drag the tiles that match on top of each other (im sure we have all played these before). The main menu screen is basic and will have buttons to a game screen and a leader board (maybe a settings screen too!)

Here is what the main game looks like, we have a load of tiles, pressing a tile reveals what symbol the tile hides. If we drag our finger from one tile to another and the hidden symbols match our score increases. 

 The game goes on forever, until time runs out. Once you have matched all the tiles the game resets, goes to the next level and reduces the time you have to complete the game. The tiles alos obviously switch there symbols.

I still have a moderate amount of work to do on the project before its hand in, in a few weeks. The background of the game will change dependant upon the weather in the area you currently are. I also need to implement the leader board system (mainly, i need to save the score, and pass it to the menu correctly using a delegate), and give it a bit more polish, like have a good system for dealing with the application when it exits etc.. but all in all its going well! This only took me a few days to create,so i cant wait to continue on it.

Light bulb moment!

Its 2:31am 19/03/2013, as i lay in bed i thought of an idea, and idea that seems so simple and yet i feel like a fool for not thinking of it sooner.

ZS should have not just zombies, but humans too! It will add more variety to the game, as players that kill humans will be subject to an in game penalty (such as a loss of score, or life loss). My framework is already set up for other entities such as this, so it will be simple to include!

Ive also been thinking more and more about the leader board. You know how on the Facebook app, you can go to someone profile, and from there go to another profile and so on, but from there you then have to go back about 100 times? My app may have the same problem if im not careful (due to using a navigation controller as my view controller), i should be careful about what links i place on the leader board screen. Also, it is possible i will need an addition screen for writing a name to associate a score with, although i think there are other ways this can be done.

Who knows, maybe ill think of more ideas tonight, ideas often jump at me when i just lay in bed.