Still Making Things

It's been a while since I have updated my blog! Sorry, life got pretty busy between when I changed my line of work away from full-time game development into a more work/life balanced software development role ( and became a dad of 5 incredible kids! )

But that doesn't mean I've been doing nothing else all this time! 😁

Here's a few notable side projects I have been working on the past 5-ish years:

 

 

Artspark - A 3D / VR interactive art creation tool for students, youths, and artists to create experiences using a visual object placement editor and some LUA scripting. For Windows / Mac OSX / Oculus Rift and Meta Quest 1 devices ( Quest 2 and newer 'works' but loads all custom textures as black squares unfortunately )

Meta Quest Pro LED Eyes - A simple DIY project to expose the eye tracking data of the player to people outside the headset of a Meta Quest Pro using LED panels, just as a proof of concept / alternative to the Apple Vision Pro Eyesight feature

 

 

SixDOFinator - A Unity 3D PC VR experience designed to run inside WinlatorXR using its XrAPI, possibly the first 6DOF PC VR experience to run on a standalone device. Note: There is also a Minimal Project version for people who want standalone devices to support their own Unity 3D games in 6DOF VR without making a full Android port

 

HWXR - A PC VR conversion of the Halo CE VR mod by LivingFray over to WinlatorXR's XrAPI for playback Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3 S, and Pico 4 Ultra (and maybe Play For Dream but that's untested). Full source code is available at Halo CE WXR

 

Tutorial for installing HWXR Early Access (requires a retail version of Halo: Combat Evolved 2003 by Gearbox for PC):

 

Launched a Kickstarter! - Insanity's Blade The Ultimate 8Bit Experience

I've teamed up with my good friend Christopher Obritsch to form Causal Bit Games! ( www.causalbitgames.com ) and we're running a Kickstarter for our first game together: Insanity's Blade!

What's it about?

Insanity's Blade is based on a comic series of the same name that Chris wrote a long time ago, the game itself though also pays tribute to the classic NES/8-bit style, right down to using nsf format music (actually playable on a real *Japanese* NES console!).

However, we're also bringing some newer graphical features and effects, and putting way more action than the old NES could handle (without icky slow-down and flickering!). We're also adding a dash more violence to make you really feel like a man who's hell-bent on revenge against the demons that killed his family (oh, did I not mention the story is of a man who's hell-bent on revenge against demons from hell that killed his family?)

What's it look like?

I'm glad you asked, here is some media from the game:

Can I try it?

Yes! We've uploaded a demo to the Kickstarter page!

So.. where's the Kickstarter?

It's right here at www.kickstarter.com/projects/353834117/insanitys-blade-the-ultimate-8-bit-experience , we hope you like how the game looks and would love your support in making it even better!

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.

Past Games: SimpleFPS V2.2

What It Is:
SimpleFPS is literally a "Simple First Person Shooter game" I created with Blitz3D between 2007 and 2008. You're able to run around a large plane and scale tall buildings while trying to survive an endless battle against the grey blocks and spheres that seek and attack you.

The game has no gore/violence, so it should be safe for any age audience.

Features:
-Modifiable graphics and sounds
-Randomly generated levels
-Flying and ground enemies
-Random and level/score mode
-Open source*

*The full source is included in text format, requires Blitz3D to compile/edit.

Download it here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4714446/SimpleFPS_V2.2.zip
Or, play it on GameJolt: http://gamejolt.com/games/shooter/simplefps-v2-2/14802/

Note: The game is no longer in development, but please do let me know if you have any crashes or bugs. Tested on Windows XP 32-bit, Windows 7 64-bit, and Windows 8 64-bit.

Download I Had Hope!

Now that we're re-making the engine, you can enjoy what was I Had Hope Alpha v0.5!

We won't be working on this version of I Had Hope anymore, so please do not report bugs, but if you have a feature suggestion feel free to let us know and we'll see if it will go into the new engine!

Download I Had Hope:

While we work on the new engine, we've released the Alpha v0.5 game and source for free!*

Alpha v0.5 Build - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4714446/IHH/IHadHope_Alpha05Build.zip

Alpha v0.5 Source - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4714446/IHH/IHadHope_Alpha05Source.zip

Features that might make it into the next engine:

• Multi-floor buildings
• Weather effects
• Weapon and item modding
• Animals
• NPC's with AI to help players in quests and provide dialogue
• Online and LAN multiplayer co-op for a large number of players (depending on how low-latency the network code turns out)
• 2-4 player splitscreen, one on keyboard and mouse and the others on Xbox360 controllers (or just 4 Xbox 360 controllers), possibly mixing with online gameplay

Want to edit the game? Download Construct Classic:

Construct Classic R2 from Scirra.com

Non-standard effects and plugins used in I Had Hope:
Plugin - TextureSetter by R0J0hound
Plugin - Unique Sprite by lucid 
Behavior - Path Movement by R0J0hound
Effect - Coloured Outline by Luomu

Find any others that stop the source from loading up? Let us know and we'll link or upload it here!

Having problems running the game? Try installing these:

Latest Direct X 9 (not 10 or 11) - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=35

The Visual C++ 2005 Redist - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=3387

*Read the Readme.txt file for licensing information

Time for a rewrite!

Well, it looks like I'll be re-writing the engine for the game to fit many more features in. Still, this isn't so bad as I've already coded a large portion of the game engine once already, so it can only turn out better!

Here's some ideas that the current engine wasn't designed for but might be possible now:
-> Multi-floor buildings
-> Weather effects
-> Weapon and item modding
-> Animals
-> NPC's with AI to help players in quests and provide dialogue
-> Online and LAN multiplayer co-op for a large number of players (depending on how low-latency the network code turns out)
-> 2-4 player splitscreen, one on keyboard and mouse and the others on Xbox360 controllers (or just 4 Xbox 360 controllers), possibly mixing with online gameplay

I'll need to talk to Bioked first, but as the old engine isn't going to be used it may be released here as open source!

You'll be able to play and take a look through the code of the old Alpha while we make an even better game =]

In the mean time, you can check out the program I Had Hope is developed in, Construct Classic by Scirra.