Packt Publishing - 50% eBooks this weekend!

The publisher of my book Construct Game Development: Beginner's Guide is having a pretty cool 50% off sale this weekend on all of their eBooks!

Details of the promotion are in the image above, just enter the promo code BIG50 at the checkout page to use it!

Construct Classic R2 - Examples Kit

I've been using Construct Classic, a free & open source Direct-X 9 based 2D game development tool, to make games and share a few examples on the Scirra forums for a few years now. After looking through how many files "a few" is, I figured it might be handy for newer users to have a compiled version of all* my examples and source files in one zip file =]

I'll keep an updated changelog at the bottom of the post, so check back once in a while for updates!

Download the zip file here: Jayjays Examples.zip (70.6MB)

Download the latest version of Construct Classic [vR2] here: Construct Classic R2 (16.2MB)

Construct Classic is getting a bit old now, but still works well while its successor: Construct 2 is another great tool from the Scirra team and exports to multiple platforms thanks to its basis in HTML5.

*Note: Example code from my book: Construct Game Development: Beginner's Guide is not included as it belongs to Packt Publishing
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Changelog:
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[26/05/2013]
-Version 1 of the example kit uploaded

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Usage Permissions:
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All example files (subfolder "Examples") and graphics (subfolder "Graphics") are free for commercial use unless otherwise stated in their documentation. Credit is optional but appreciated.
Full game source codes (subfolder "Games") are free for learning purposes/non-commercial works. Credit is again optional, however any commercial use of the resources or base codes of those games is not permitted.
For further usage concerns not covered please contact me.

Packt Publishing 1000th title celebration!

The publisher of my book (Construct Game Development: Beginner's Guide) is having a special promotion this weekend to celebrate their 1000th title published. Anyone who registers for a free account will receive an eBook (such as a copy of my book!) for free, as well as access to the entire PacktLib online library for the week =D

Go get your free eBook here!

Here's their press release:

28th September 2012

Packt Publishing reaches 1000 IT titles and celebrates with an open invitation

Birmingham-based IT publisher Packt Publishing is about to publish its 1000th title. Packt books are renowned among developers for being uniquely practical and focused, but you’d be forgiven for not yet being in the know – Packt books cover highly specific tools and technologies which you might not expect to see a high quality book on.

Packt is certain that in its 1000 titles there is at least one book that everyone in IT will find useful right away, and are inviting anyone to choose and download any one of its eBooks for free over its celebration weekend of 28-30th Sep 2012. Packt is also opening its online library for a week for free to give customers an easy to way to research their choice of free eBook.

Packt supports many of the Open Source projects covered by its books through a project royalty donation, which has contributed over $400,000 to Open Source projects up to now. As part of the celebration Packt is allocating $30,000 to share between projects and authors as part of the weekend giveaway, allocated based on the number of copies of each title downloaded.

Dave Maclean, founder of Packt Publishing:

“At Packt we set out 8 years ago to bring practical, up to date and easy to use technical books to the specialist tools and technologies that had been largely overlooked by IT publishers. Today, I am really proud that with our authors and partners we have been able to make useful books available on over 1000 topics and make our contribution to the development community.”

Construct Game Development Beginners Guide

My book on making 2D games is out! It's called Construct Game Development Beginners Guide by Packt Publishing and is aimed at teaching absolute beginners to make their own computer games with Construct Classic.

If you're interested in seeing what the book is like, PacktPub have an entire sample chapter available to read!

Here's the overview:
"Construct Classic is a free, DirectX 9 game creator for Windows, designed for 2D games. Construct Classic uses an event-based system for defining how the game behaves, in a visual, human-readable way - you don't need to program or script anything at all. It's intuitive for beginners, but powerful enough for advanced users to work without hindrance. You never know when you’ll need a helping hand exploring its inner workings, or harnessing its raw power to do your bidding.
Construct Game Development Beginner's Guide is the book for you if you have ever felt the urge to make a game of your own. Reading this book will not only teach you to make some popular games using Construct, but you’ll also learn the skills necessary to continue on and bring your game ideas to life.
Starting as a beginner to Construct Classic, you’ll be learning to make platform, puzzle, and shooter games, each styled after popular games of their genre.
This guide covers everything from creating animated sprites, to using the built-in physics and shadow engines of Construct Classic. You will learn the skills necessary to make advanced games of your own.
Construct Game Development Beginner's Guide will lead you on your journey of making games."

With the book done, I Had Hope should get some much deserved attention again, although an engine rewrite is looking pretty tempting (to allow for multiplayer, better modding, less crashing).