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768 days ago
I have constructed and published a new website for Zombies Ate My High-School. I am attempting to create an information game page for those with questions about the game. The site can be found here. As a side note, I plan on publishing a first release of the game this weekend. It will be alpha, but it should have 1 working level. From then on, creating the levels should be easy with the editor I created. All these will be found on my website and codeplex where I maintain the source.
784 days ago
It has been quite some time since I have updated this blog. But, I haven't been slacking. In fact, I have been hard at work implementing an editor for Zombies Ate My High-school. The editor is now complete and will allow me to author levels faster and more consistent than before. Also, on the artist front, I have heard from a couple of interested artists. First off, Shawn McGavin, is a modeler and will be constructing some of the in-game items such as lockers, clocks, spray cans, etc. He's had a number of years experience using Maya. On the the character front, I have had a very interesting response back from Jason Ford. While scanning Ziggy's site, he came across my request for an artist. He liked the title, and went ahead and created a splash screen for the game. The screen looks amazing, and I can't wait to see more from him! A very talented artist indeed. I am creating a new album with screenshots from the editor and a shot of Jason's title splash screen. Long live ...
817 days ago
I have revamped the animation classes that were used in the game. They are far more generic and more powerful. The animation descriptions are read from an XML file instead of being hardcoded in the game. Also, the textured quad is no longer responsible for managing the texture coordinates, that task is designated to a helper class. All in all, these new classes will allow me to freely use them in other projects. It was a painless transition, and the code is much cleaner. I should have a complete game soon! Feel free to check out the current status of the project at codeplex.
820 days ago
As promised, I have still been working on the particle effects. To try out some ideas, I created a particle effects demo. It's based off of the article given by Microsoft at the XNA Creators Club site. I will be incorporating this into the game soon. It's difficult finding time between finishing a basement programming... I wish I had 48 hours in a day.
829 days ago
I have worked my way through the particle sample provided by Microsoft. I must say, it was far easier than I thought. In fact, it is really quite simple to understand. I will be incorporating it into the game soon. There is one consideration that I will have to take into account. When the particle emitter is not in an allowed distance of the viewing frustrum, then I shouldn't update draw any of the items. Of course, I will have to draw and update those emitters that are close enough where their particles could potentially be in view. Also, when the player gets close enough to an emitter, even it most likely won't be drawn, I will be updating the emitters particles so that when the emitter does enter the view frame, it won't look weird. If I just start updating the emitter when in view, then particles will only be a short distance from the emitter and the image won't look authentic. Look to CodePlex for updates soon.
