Chapters of a Schlub's Story

Woot? 2012 ALREADY???

2012-01-31T12:18:00.001+08:00

Wow, been a while since my last blog went up...
What I've been up to:

Starcraft II - Chapter "Climbing the ladder to Silver League"

Wow... How did these people manage to manage so many stuffs in a split seconds??? I'm furious!!!
Hehe, on the top 8 of Bronze League (which is the sh*ttiest league rank)

"TheGame" Studio - (name to be revealed :) )

Polish the darn Android game
Legal issues, payment processor findings, reading up "Marketing 101"
Oh... Gonna begin registering a domain name and set up the entire "one man army" studio

Chinese New Year!!! Hooray!!! HUAT AH!!!

Good luck, and HAVE FUN!!!

Nearing completion, getting tired, and happy Mother's Day!!!

2011-05-08T01:07:00.002+08:00

Wow, a WHOPPIN' QUARTER since my last post... But hey, its all good, why?

Marketing is about to be started, project is nearing testing phase, assets are coming along really well AND I'm a little tired... :). Ah... The last one wasn't "all good", but hey, its most good ya...

Actually, maybe I'm "tired" of being alone? Really, who'd you go to when you achieve something great? Who'd you go to when you feel sad, lonely? Who'd you go to when you have lows in your life? Who would you go to when you need support in making decisions? Maybe I need pretend to be strong for a little more while, a little while until the project is completed, then I should stop pretending and start looking at this "fatigue" more seriously... Or maybe not, and I should seriously get this "fatigue" fixed?

I used to be a guy who's so sure about things - Life, money, relationship, love, family, and yeah, dogs and cats... After working for a couple of years, I'm not so sure anymore... Is it me? Or is it life and job changes everyone? I don't know, but I guess I'll find out soon... Soon enough...

And its Mother's day in Malaysia today, wish all great mothers a happy Mother's Day :)

Waste of time

2011-02-05T11:56:00.000+08:00

Often times we hear people say, "you're wasting your time". Please, Define waste of time.

Is watching movie a waste of time? How about playing games? Oh, facebook, is it? Or maybe blogging, twitting?

Personally, I define "waste of time" as not balance.

- Balance -
Striking a balance between work, and "Rest and Relax". Anything that makes you unbalance, is called waste of time. Overloading yourself with work, is a waste of time. Spending a whole day playing game, neglecting your work, time with your family, is waste of time. Spending a couple of hours on it, and its called taking a break from your life...

Same goes for reading: Some considers reading not a waste of time. I've seen a bunch of people read the book entire day, doing nothing else. Thus, do you think that "Addicted reading Harry Potter" not a waste of time? I don't think so.

0.5 years... Where have you been?

2010-12-07T22:54:00.000+08:00

Been long since I last blogged... Suddenly have the urge to do so, likely, this will be a no content blog...

First off, game...Where's your game??!?! It's getting there, but not done. I've finally managed to get some asset up and running, so I do no longer see boxes and spheres. A simple level loader is also created, so that I can start designing levels... On the other hand, the base game logic is not up and running yet. Character can move, but there's no action other than moving or jumping... Ah well...

Also, I found that developing game on Android takes much less time, thus I'm currently focusing on developing on Android, a simple, hardcore, precision driven game... Details, soon :)

Last but not least - Life cycle of new engineering project:

Guy A: Hey dude, lets create project A so that its scalable
Guy B: Sure!!! Let's put 10 months of work here
12 months later...
Guy A: Hey dude, we've gotta develop a new framework so that our solution is more scalable!!!
Guy B: Yeah, even though project A is scalable, it's not enough, let's scrap it and rebuild a new project A so that it's scalable, 10 months of work!!!

And thus... The cycle continues :)

Software engineering... Cross Platform... Java? Not really...

2010-04-22T20:18:00.001+08:00

Software are often times used across platform, Windows, Linux, Mac OS, BSD, etc. The list goes on and on, but there're quite a number of ways to fix the problem. Java, once promised "build once, run anywhere", but it doesn't seem that it's true. There is an article which doesn't relate to cross platform mentioned:

"The cross-platform promise of Java is a lie, I had to find that out the hard way, and the questions regarding Java installation and claims that OS X just didn't start it, together with abysmal performance on Linux, were really discouraging. Cross-platform should mean "build once, run anywhere with no adjustments". It just doesn't work out that way in Java's case though."

Here's the link: http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/04/Reverse-Engineering-Binary-Files.

I've never been a fan of Java, doesn't like the virtual machine it runs during execution. It feels unnatural compared to native executables. Even with Java, you'll need to take care of a lot of details, one of the main "pain" is the file handling and the next line. C can also be cross platform if carefully programmed. Thus, why the extra layer of "virtual machine" that eats away all your resources and performance when the same native executable can achieve the same result? (We'll talk about performance... Next time :) )

Cross platform can also be achieved when one uses cross platform library. The most basic thing to do is to just use ANSI compatible libraries (low level libraries, that is). Also, use more cross platform (AND mature) wrappers when making application, such as wxWidgets, Qt, instead of Cocoa, MFC, .NET etc.

In our case, although the game we're developing will be initially be released on Windows, we use cross platform compatible libraries - Ogre3D, bullet physics, OpenAL, etc. Why? Moving across platform is partially a "requirement" in software industry. Even steam is moving to Mac OS X, and I think they'll be moving to Linux as well (well, one day).

Engineering

2010-03-13T00:39:00.000+08:00

It's been quite a while since my last post here. I'm driving towards opening up a new blog to begin blogging the prototyping of the latest project codenamed - The GoP.

I've pretty much nailed down a lot of technical stuffs, and also, the core engine behind the game is getting more and more mature. The engine now runs on Ogre3D and Bullet physics, with some engineering and nice architecture so that it can be scaled (at least after the prototyping) to the game's completion, but no, it's not a Unreal3D or Unity3D competitor. It's instead a small scale, cute engine that has a requirement - to run on most machines. Also, a sound engine is required (and missing) from the game engine, I'm currently in the midst of investigating how I can incorporate OpenAL to it without much effort. (Yeah, whatever, I'm a l\azy guy)

My concept of indie game is that it should be small, innovative, fun, but not mainstream. Means? It means that indie game should not be "yet another very polished First Person Shooter(FPS)". Don't get me wrong, FPS is a good genre, and it could be an indie game, but not a FPS that's polished ONLY. There must be some fresh element in it. Take for example Portal. It's a FPS, but what you shoot, is instead a portal that you could teleport to, making it a game of great puzzle.

I'm hoping my concept could at least nearly as good as the concept of Portal, World of Goo, Braid among many other indie games.

Okay, that's it for now... What? Screenshot of the game? No. It's a no-no to even think about getting a screenshot. It's still too much of a box, triangles, and spheres in the game. (Oh yeah, I'll need to remind myself about beginning to create some asset to that I can get an "early exposure" of the game to the net).

I hope the next post I make will be a post to link to the game The GoP's official site.

Have fun, and good night :)

Chapter 21: Any priced game - World of Goo!!!

2009-10-13T20:49:00.000+08:00

Yup, you've heard me right, World of Goo is going for... ANY price you would want to pay, a penny, a dollar, or a million dollars. Visit their site at http://2dboy.com/games.php to buy it!!!

Keeping my hand on the keyboard... Until next time... Have fun!!!

Chapter 17 - Memory leaking... Date slipping...

2009-08-07T20:39:00.000+08:00

It's been 4 months now that I've first started to develop this game, feature wise, it's shaping up, but.... There is one major bug I couldn't squash.... The bug is intermittent, yet destructive... Also, I've put memory leak checking everywhere, but even when the memory leak checkers reported no leaks, my Windows Task Manager reports that my application is chewing memory like chewing gum... Ouch...

It seemed that I might have to slip engineering from the expected 4 months to 6-8 months. Now I know why all the AAA titles keeps delaying their releases - cause they want the best to go out the door and keeps the game polished before release so that it will be enjoyed by gamers!!!

Last words - Memory leaks, I HATE YOU!!!! But... I'll persist on non-managed code rather than managed code...

Until next time... Have fun :)

Chapter 16 - Sick

2009-08-06T01:26:00.000+08:00

Been quite a couple of weeks since I last blogged. I've not been feeling well these few days, food poisoning I believe. I had diarrhea couple of times a day, and still persisting, if this persist, I'll need to take a medical leave.

These couple of weeks, I've turned my life upside down (or so), sleeping irregularly. I now sleep 2 times a day, one after work, for about 2 hours, then late night sleep, for about 5 hours, which sums up to 7 hours!!! Hooray. I find that these sleeping pattern makes me more productive, but on the other hand, might cause damage to my body. I'm just wondering if this has real impact on health issues...

Chapter 15 - Original games?

2009-07-11T01:23:00.000+08:00

Recently I purchased quite a number of original games over the internet - www.steampowered.com, www.pcgame.com.my, forum.lowyat.net.

When I'm trying to purchase Patapon 2 UMD, I couldn't find a copy of those in these sites since it is not PC based game, but PSP based.

I decided to drive out, get to Sony Center to get a copy of it. Guess what they say - "We don't stock games in here, these are the only 3 games we have - Silent Hill, and the other two games that I haven't even heard of. I asked if I could place an order, and the most SURPRISING answer I've EVER EVER heard from a store - "I suggest you don't do that because it might take a long time to reach here. Past incident(s) were quite an unpleasant one, taking up to 1 month for the order to arrive". I mean... !@#$%&*#$%^&* Sony Center is telling me, I can't get a game I wanna play even if I'm willing to shell out about RM100 for it.

Continuing the hunt for the game... And by the way, piracy is going to kill the game industry, support original if you wish to see better games for either your console or PC.

We've got some updates on the prototype we've been working on *pretty soon*... Stay tuned.

Chapter 14 - Prototype: Woot?

2009-06-09T21:13:00.000+08:00

The game prototype is now about 2 months old!!! No joke, I'm still fooling myself I'm on the safe side of the river, and I'm doing fine -_-!!!

Okay down to updates, again, no gameplay screenie this time, just an update to say, the game is still very much alive!!! We're now in revision 50!!! For the past few weeks, we've been working on tuning the controls of the character, fine tuning the engine, refactoring codes, and unit testing.

Unit testing? Is this really necessary? Partially, we won't be going for 90% code coverage and those crazy perfectionist *BS*, instead, we unit test stuffs we think really can be a major problem is that small class failed. The unit testing framework we're using is cxxtest, which we think - ROCKS. Simple interface, all header, complete with execution script - That's what cxxtest is!!! The ONLY downside of it is that it doesn't generate report, instead it gives output (stdout) on the screen, unless you're willing to write an output version of it yourself (or rip it off the internet), no automated testing could be done. We're (actually, it's I am) a one man team, so, I don't mind running the tests myself.

More updates to come!!!

Chapter 13 - Prototype: Where were you?

2009-05-05T00:10:00.000+08:00

Past weeks were mere engineering week, we're doing whole bunch of code refactoring, etc. plus going through some technical details regarding the game's level editor. We've looked into Constructive Solid Geometry(CSG), polygon clipping, etc. Also, we've finally tweaked the game's character so that it stands on its feet!!! Even so it's been a boring week without much satisfaction when looking at the game, since it is still almost the same as previous weeks.
More to come this week (hopefully, since we've finally nailed down some technical obstacle, I think).

Chapter 12 - Prototype: Concept Art in Main Character

2009-04-15T22:01:00.000+08:00

Wow, another week passed by so quickly. This week, not much detailed changes in the engine, except for overhauling the engineering level of the engine for future compatibility, and better design (although we're not going to sell the engine, we still want a fairly stable yet easy to use engine for the game).

I've got a main character's concept art ready, but let's just keep the misery until we've got a something better than concept to show. Here are some thrown away concept art I've taken with my (blurry, crappy) webcam.

Until next time, designing all the way!!!

PS: The main character's concept art is way better than these, erm... pitiful thrown aways, but these rubbishy concept art actually helped me a lot in getting the concept art for the main character.

Chapter 11 - Prototype, week 1

2009-04-03T17:59:00.000+08:00

Whoa, the prototype is now officially ONE WEEK OLD!!!
It's still not much now, SVN is ready, IDE + toolchain are ready, and finally, some base codes are out.

Since I'm working prototype -> full product, this prototype won't be a throw away, thus requiring some design and engineering on the programming part. Here're some screenies, it's not much, but the first 2-3 weeks will be the "putting something one the screen" part of the prototype.

We're currently tweaking the controls so that the "boxes" control feels right. Arts are ugly (is there even art), but the base code are a whole LOADS of engineering and correct design practice.

PS: This blog has a evil purpose of serving as a milestone report so that I don't keep slipping the project's date and telling myself I'm doing fine.

Chapter 11 - Prototype, ON!!! in Indie game journey

2009-03-23T23:07:00.001+08:00

It's been a while since I last wanted to develop an indie game, and I feel now is the time!!! After a couple of weeks of brainstorming + day dreaming + staring into space + etc, I finally came out with an idea feasible to be worked - Not too ambitious, not too crappy game. The prototype should be done within a couple of months from now, hopefully within 2 months, or less.

Until next time, (or erm... until the prototype is out?) code code code (and err.. design) all the way!!!

Chapter 9 - World of Goo in Linux!!!

2009-02-15T14:42:00.000+08:00

It's been quite a while since World of Goo has been launched in Windows ,Mac and Wii, but now, the open source fanboys can enjoy the game as well, since World of Goo has been launched for Linux!!!

What're you still waiting for? Go purchase your copy of World of Goo in 2DBoy's website!!! And in case you've purchased your copy of World of Goo from their website previously, you can download the Linux version for FREE!!!

Chapter 8 - Windows 7 Beta in Microsoft

2009-01-18T21:18:00.001+08:00

Today I'm here to bring the latest news I've got from Microsoft - The Windows 7 Beta. It's now available at Microsoft's official site, Windows 7 Beta Link, and you'll be able to enjoy the Beta until August, after which you'll either have to buy the official copy, or revert to your previous operating system.

Here's a screenshot of Windows 7 in action.

Windows 7 introduces lots of Graphical User Interface changes, kernel code updates, and many more. Although I'm not a full fanboy of Microsoft, Windows 7 seems to be a really great Operating System to have on your desktop.

Why are you still reading? Click here to download the Microsoft Windows 7 Beta and give it a try!!!

Chapter 7 - Phenom overclocking in CPU

2009-01-01T18:54:00.001+08:00

It's been quite a while since my last overclock, and this time around, I'm in a pleasure during the new year to play around with my CPU. It's a puny, cute little quad-core CPU - Phenom 9550.

Why the lowest end model then? Well, for one, I don't have cash to get a better ones. For two, I just don't need so much computing power, just want a taste of quad-core machine, and play a game that so CPU intensive, that it requires a quad-core.

Okay, down to the clock that I've got this little baby running. The initial reference clock was 200 Mhz with a x11 multiplier, which multiplies up to 2200Mhz (The dummy's library - 2.2Ghz).

I don't like to heat up my CPU, so I intended to get the reference clock up, but never the voltages for any components on my motherboard. Final result:

I've got my 2.2Ghz baby running at 2.48Ghz, and have not yet crashed. I've seen people running this baby stable at 3.0Ghz, with a little tweaking on the voltages of course.

Continuing to overclock sooner, wishing you a

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

from schlub at an apartment

Chapter 6 - MusicA? ElectronicA? in Music

2008-12-23T23:25:00.004+08:00

I got to know a genre of music commonly played in clubs, pubs, etc. and it's called - Electronica. I've been quite skeptical about songs in this genre of music, but this DJignotus guy over at YouTube opened my eyes.

Here are a few electronica I felt is really good he made available on YouTube

Electronica Mix 3:

Electronica Mix 2:

World of Electronica music, here we come!!!

Chapter 5 - How little can your big planet be?

2008-12-14T19:30:00.004+08:00

When I was browsing the web, I stumbled across this game, LittleBigPlanet. It is a platformer which emphasizes on "Play, Create, Share". It is a simple game like mario, but with a lot of added elements, physics especially.

The Play part of LittleBigPlanet, is essentially playing the game, winning each level of the game. Here's a video of gameplay of LittleBigPlanet.

Then you've played it well, comes the Create part. Huh? Create? Yes, LittleBigPlanet provides a level creator in the game, which is simple enough for a dummy to create a new level. What's best is that you can not only create a level, you can create item, obstacle etc. Here's a video on the level creation.

And last but not least, the Share part. You can share the level you've created to community so that everyone can take a look at what you've created and play them!!!

If you've got a little 60 bucks in your pocket with a PS3 in your living room, this game is a must!!! The biggest problem with this game is that not everyone has a PS3, and most people (including me) won't buy a PS3 for this game.

Enjoy your planet, and until next time, remember, "Play, Create and Share"!!!

Chapter 4 - World Of Goo in IndieGame

2008-11-02T11:25:00.004+08:00

It's time to let you people know, this blog is not just about Blender and 3D modeling. It's about anything that I see interesting, and let you all know what's upcoming cool things.

I downloaded a demo of a game - World Of Goo, which was derived from the Tower of Goo. It's a casual game that gets a fair amount of good reviews. The goal of the game is to join up balls (Goo balls) to reach a pipe to get out of the place they're "stuck" in. Sounded like boring? Absolutely not... The arts in the game are really great. Lets take a look at the screenshots

Fairly cute isn't it? This game gets two indie game awards, that is Design Innovation Awards and Technical Excellence Award at Independent Games Festival.

Here's the game trailer made my 2DBoy

Below is a gameplay recorded on Youtube by the demo players (This is the last chapter of the game).

That should do it... If you're interested in the game itself check it out at http://2dboy.com/games.php. The game costs 19.99USD, but if you're a vivid player, it's worth the amount of cash. What's best? Wii players can get them in WiiWare!!!

The demo can be downloaded off FileShack - World Of Goo Demo.

Enjoy the game... And until next time... HAVE FUN...

Chapter 3 - Have a seat in Blender

2008-10-28T20:11:00.000+08:00

Whoopz, I finally got off modeling glasses (but hey, I'll be back for more glasses, don't know why, I just love to model glass). This time around, I modeled a chair, based on a picture from my friend's blog (http://freak-lair.blogspot.com if you insist).

I'm driving towards rendering a scene, so I wish to model each model one by one, and finally, use all the models I've created to render to a scene.

So... Here it is... The end result of the chair...

Woot? The making of again? Here you go... "The Making of Have a seat in Blender"...

Chapter 2 - More Glass in Blender

2008-10-27T14:10:00.001+08:00

Huh? Glass again? Okay, let's get things straight. I'm getting hold of some simple techniques so that in the future I can do faster modeling. Thus, these few weeks, you'll see more and more dining equipments coming - tables, chairs, bowl, etc.

This time around, the scene is better rendered, with procedural texture and reflection on the floor, the scene looks much better compared to the previous render.

Here's the end result of what I've made

And then again... "The making of Glass in Blender 2", fast-forwarded version...

Hungry for more and better renders? Stay tuned!!!

Chapter 1 - Glass in Blender...

2008-10-26T00:20:00.000+08:00

Glass in Blender? Why would I choose a topic like this? Chapter one begins my journey through my life as a modeler, a 3D modeler that is.

I've loved games since I was young, back then, fresh in primary school. The passion for 3D graphics came from games I like back then. Years back, I did some 3D modeling, but I've never published them anywhere, and now here I am, begin to publish my work.

This is my first ever work, simple enough to get me back on track for 3D modeling (but hey, it's a 10 minutes work). Well, actually, it took me more than 10 minutes to get everything up. Took me one whole day to pick up appropriate software to capture my window, etc. etc. etc.

Well... Here's the end result of my "Glass in Blender"...

And here's the "fast-forwarded" version of "The Making of Glass in Blender"...

Enjoy... Make sure you keep on coming back!!! More to come soon!!!

Prologue - Commencez

2008-10-25T01:12:00.000+08:00

Here, my story begins... The birth of a story of a schlub.

Chapters in my story includes a lot of simple life story. Everyone has a story, I'm of no difference. The matter is - are your stories going to bring meaning to other people? I don't know if mine is, but we'll just have to see.