Doesn't "Post Mortem" imply analysis after failure? I'd say he was successful. :-)
Generally no
Post mortem of my one game a month
51–60 of 67 posts
Re: Post mortem of my one game a month
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
OP here! I found Z80 assembler quite interesting (I had previous experience with Intel 16 and 32 bit), and Z88DK supports inline asm so it wasn't too bad if you can restrict the assembler code to small routines and still do the main bits in C.
I've had the Oric-1 OSDK ( http://osdk.defence-force.org/ ), which offers the same universe, in my hack/inbox for a while now .. its an amazing thing to return to these old architectures and realize just how much we take things for granted today, and yet - in spite of the limitations - the things are still just as useful and interesting as they ever were. 'tis a delight to witness a 7-year old and a 5-year old pillag…
"and realize just how much we take things for granted today"
Well, Z88DK has some... bugs. It is definitely a new experience when the compiler segfaults because a syntax error ;) To be fair, I'm glad it exists, but it got me busy for few hours because of a couple of bugs less evident than a compiler crash.
My experience when I was 13 was with the Spectrum, but after getting back in contact with "the old 8-bit world" I think the Commodore 64, the Amstrad CPC, or even the Oric could be quite interesting to revisit and explore; and I'm sure there are still some users out there that would love new software!
Re: Post mortem of my one game a month
#53Huge props for diving in to a mostly-extinct platform! I've always wondered what the process was for game programmers on the early PCs and consoles. Are there any books or documentaries that go into depth about the development process of, for instance, Super Mario Bros? I've only seen stuff targeting "mainstream" audiences that glosses over anything technical.
Let's see... "The birth of a Paradroid" - Paradroid development journal for the C64 by Andrew Braybrook: http://www.zzap64.co.uk/zzap3/para_birth01.html "Mental Procreation" - Morpheus development journal for the C64 by Andrew Braybrook: http://www.zzap64.co.uk/zzap23/mental1.html "It's behind you" - R-Type Arcade conversion for the ZX Spectrum, free e-book by Bob Pape: http://bizzley.com/ Free sample pages of the de…
I can't seem to find it right now but there is a development journal somewhere of the reverse-engineering and porting of Prince of Persia to the C64 that was done before the game was open-sourced.
Edit: Here it is (in 10 parts): http://popc64.blogspot.fr/2011/10/part-one-why-hell-would-an...
Re: Post mortem of my one game a month
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did you use any guides or anything specific to get started on pixel art in gimp? If not, any advice?
There are some pixel art tutorials: http://www.pixelprospector.com/the-big-list-of-pixel-art-tut... For me it really helped to configure Gimp for pixel art: set the pen to 1 pixel, save some palettes, set the grid to 8x8 when doing Spectrum graphics, a keyboard shortcut to show/hide the grid, etc. Gimp defaults are not good for pixel art. Other than that, jut zoom as needed. I usually scale the games x3 when trying a…
Also, keep multiple windows open at different zoom levels!
It's pretty ancient, but here's Larry Ewing's notes on how he created the original Tux image in Gimp: http://isc.tamu.edu/~lewing/linux/notes.html
Re: Post mortem of my one game a month
#55I've been making computer games, either as a hobby or for pay, for a span of about 30 years. There have been periods where I only made one new one every year or two, and periods where I made one or more small prototypes per month. It is a great technical and creative exercise, the more you try to take to a playable state in any span of time. It forces you to focus on what's most important, the key elements of the play experience. And make the core architecture simple, with a minimim of boilerplate and accidental complexity.
Re: Post mortem of my one game a month
#56Huge props for diving in to a mostly-extinct platform! I've always wondered what the process was for game programmers on the early PCs and consoles. Are there any books or documentaries that go into depth about the development process of, for instance, Super Mario Bros? I've only seen stuff targeting "mainstream" audiences that glosses over anything technical.
Here's a fun video on how a modern 8-bit style game was ported to actually run on an NES. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvx4xXhZMrU
You would probably enjoy the book Racing the Beam http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/racing-beam
For a collection of (mostly consumer-oriented) behind-the-scenes material, check out http://www.reddit.com/r/TheMakingOfGames/
Or, if you want to get really technical http://handmadehero.org/
Re: Post mortem of my one game a month
#57Huge props for diving in to a mostly-extinct platform! I've always wondered what the process was for game programmers on the early PCs and consoles. Are there any books or documentaries that go into depth about the development process of, for instance, Super Mario Bros? I've only seen stuff targeting "mainstream" audiences that glosses over anything technical.
Ah, I almost forgot "The Game That Time Forgot"
Re: Post mortem of my one game a month
#58I've been making computer games, either as a hobby or for pay, for a span of about 30 years. There have been periods where I only made one new one every year or two, and periods where I made one or more small prototypes per month. It is a great technical and creative exercise, the more you try to take to a playable state in any span of time. It forces you to focus on what's most important, the key elements of the pla…
Maybe 25 in my case, I started when I was about 12 on a Mac Plus, I'm 37 now. Contributed to some small indie games and half-finished a few dozen, but decided to give it up because there is just no money in it (as a whole I mean, I realize a few rare winners make it above the fold though).
I would say it's at least 10 times harder to make games than normal applications, but, programming networked apps is at least 10 times harder than making games. This probably includes startup apps that that use the newest languages and databases.
I've generally found some of the "harder" concepts like 3D to actually be pretty easy, because so much effort has been thrown at them over years. It turns out to be a lot harder to interact with the OS since it's a moving target. For example, pretty much the entirety of what I wrote before about 2010 is unusable for Mac or iOS programming today.
To really make money, it’s critical to write as little code as possible (preferably no code at all), or be willing to let your games slip into obsolescence. Nobody ever talks about the amount of work it would take to bring a game from iOS 4 to iOS 8, or that most games make $1 a day or less. It’s pretty grim. So, best not to think about that stuff, and just concentrate on making something somebody might appreciate that has the potential to go viral. Or, do it as a hobby, don’t waste a decade or two trying to make it a career (unless you work for an established company, because sequels take the least amount of creativity and make the most amount of money - like Birdman for gaming).
Re: Post mortem of my one game a month
#59Doesn't "Post Mortem" imply analysis after failure? I'd say he was successful. :-)
I like how anna anthropy suggested using the phrase "post-partum" instead of post-mortem, as a game only really becomes a living thing once it's been released to the public.
Re: Post mortem of my one game a month
#60I can code, I have way too many projects but I've never written a game. Should I do 1GAM?