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Old News

December 31, 2002

Screenshot from Elf

New Games. First of all, the author of the Squirrel did finally turn up: Yogi. He has also submitted two of the new games: Elf.zip and Crown of Power. Elf is a rare find in that it is actually a completed game :)! Watch out, though; it's not a quick download at 7.6 MB (mostly due to MP3s). Other recent submissions include ROBOTWARS and Superhamster. (Links updated January 8, 2003)

For those of you tracking the progress of the "Docutorial", you can see the latest at http://gamedev.sf.net/Help/Docutorial.html. Chapter 3 will be the last chapter in this initial release of the docutorial. No subsequent releases are planned.

November 11, 2002

New Game: The Squirrel. The most interesting thing about this game is I don't know where it came from. But it's not bad. Check it out on the Projects page.

November 10, 2002

New Game: Gold-Yoink. Gold-Yoink is a Lode Runner clone that I intend to use to document more of GameDev's scripting support. It's pretty fun just to play, though, and also pretty easy to create new levels for. Check it out on the Projects page.

August 28, 2002

Version 1.3.2 released. This version fixes a few straggling bugs discovered after the release of version 1.3.1 and includes a new splash screen design. For a complete list of changes, see the Release notes. New downloads are available on the Downloads page.

August 14, 2002

Look out for Klez. I have been receiving many returned emails that I never sent. I have (re-) verified that I am not infected by Klez, which means that someone with my email address must be infected and Klez is sending emails from them on my behalf (spoofing my address in the from line). I figure this site is the most likely source of the email list, and if I'm getting that many returned emails, there must be many more that are actually going through. Please be aware of the dangers of the Klez virus/worm. Visit Symantec's site for more information. It spreads very easily and deviously, especially if you use Outlook.

July 27, 2002

New Discussion Forum. The new forum at EZBoard.com is now the official forum. Head to http://pub40.ezboard.com/bgamedev43958 and enjoy the new features and easier posting (it'll remember who you are!).

July 11, 2002

Another 5 Star Game. I'm happy to announce the first 5 star game since Rolly the Purple Ball! The latest update of Chode has been ranked at 5 stars thanks mostly to its size and unique features (saving games, etc). It also includes music and sound effects now. While some aspects of this game may be less than perfect, I think it deserves a ranking as high as Rolly. I look forward to the day when something better comes along to change the curve or intruduce a 6+ star rating! :)

June 28, 2002

Version 1.3.1 Released. OK, version 1.3.0 had a few glitches (most of which have gone unnoticed for many releases) but everything I'm aware of has now been fixed and I've thrown in a new feature with 1.3.1 as a bonus to those of you who put up with the 1.3.0 bugs and the earliness of this release :). You can now specify collision definitions to trigger functions based on the types of the colliding sprites (names/ templates) which should reduce the need for more collision classes. Take a look at the new release notes for more details and then head to the download page to get the new version.

June 19, 2002

New Add-Ins Package Added. Mark Ribau has created a SGDKFileIO component that allows you to safely access files from VBScript without setting off virus alerts. It won't allow you to read or write files that it didn't create, so that's how it keeps things safe. This could come in quite handy for save game features. Click here to jump directly to the new package on the files page.

Requesting Comments Before 1.3.1 Release. Please email me or post messages in the discussion forums if you find bugs that need to be fixed before version 1.3.1 is released (possibly as early as this weekend). Known issues to this point:

Leaving the Layer Quick View window up while editing a map or playing a game causes bad errors.

A special function that activates on startup and removes itself after activation causes an error (this has been a problem since 1.2).

Both these errors are already fixed locally, but will not be released until I'm confident there are no more glaring bugs to deal with.

June 13, 2002

Version 1.3.0 Released. It's finally here! GameDev version 1.3.0 includes loads of new features and fixes. There are new special functions for altering inventory and activating a series of other functions. There are new flags and fields all over, but maybe most notably is the inclusion of the new runtime-only version of GameDev called GDPlay.exe and the inclusion of the Install Packager as part of the main product. This allows you to create smaller packages to distribute your game and not distribute the editor with your game. The Install Packager is now in the Tools menu for easy access, but you'll still need NSIS to use it. For a full list of features, see the release notes.

Oh, and please, everybody take note, when I talk about the tutorial, I'm not talking about the "Play Tutorial" link in the program files menu. That will just play the finished tutorial project -- not very helpful at all. The first thing every new user should do is head for the Help menu in the main GameDev window. It has loads of helpful information and two tutorials. You can also access information about any dialog in GameDev by simply pressing the F1 key for context sensitive help. That said, if you're ready to try it out, head for the download page.

May 5, 2002

Sneak Peek GameDev 1.3. I have posted unofficial files for preview/testing by anybody interested in previewing some of the features that will be going into GameDev version 1.3. The file contains 3 executables: GameDev itself, the new GDPlay runtime-only engine, and GameDevPack which has a couple new features and uses GDPlay instead of GameDev in its packages now. See the included readme for information on the new feature. More changes are on the way! The archive is GDPreRel.ZIP (820 KB). You must already have GameDev installed to use the files in the ZIP.

Contest results are final. The grand prize winner is Ethereal Peace submitted by Ashley Moore who received a $200 prize. The runner up was Realm of Strife submitted by Mark Ribau who received a $100 prize. These were the only two entries submitted on time for the competition, but both were worthy of prizes even without any challengers :).

May 2, 2002

Contest Entries are in. I received only two entries to the contest when I checked the submissions on the morning of May 1st. It was a disappointing number, but an interesting couple of entries. I am expecting a late entry too. The rankings aren't exactly official yet, but the two entries I do have are being considered winners because there were more prizes than entries. You can get a look at the entries yourself if you head to the Projects page and look at the end of the list for Ethereal Peace and Realm of Strife.

March 28, 2002

Contest Entries Candidates for Publication. New and interesting developments are taking place in the Scrolling Game Development Kit contest. A software publisher has offered to review and possibly include quality contest entries in a CD game archive publication. Even if your entry doesn't win, it could still have a chance at being published. So polish up your game before submitting it and we might be able to get it on that CD before it goes out. Timing will be tight. You'll have a short timespan in which to return a signed contract if you are given the opportunity to participate, but it's an exciting prospect!

February 4, 2002

Enter the contest! There's a Scrolling Game Development Kit contest going on at www.gamedev.net. Cash prizes up to $200 (with possibility of growing the "jackpot")! See the details here.

February 2, 2002

Some small bug seems to have cropped into the code somehow. I remember validating this functionality before, but in version 1.2.2 and 1.2.3 at least, it is not possible to create really large maps (larger than 32767 pixels wide or high). There's a source code patch available here but it probably won't go into an official release for a while. This patch should allow you to make maps with billions of tiles if you have the memory available (1 byte per tile). I believe the limitation will be 32767 tiles then, and not 32767 pixels. (32767 x 32767 is greater than 1 billion.) Oh, yes, and happy Groundhog Day :).

January 23, 2002

A* Path Search Demo. I've just added a new project to the Projects page that demonstrates the use of VBScript to make sprites find intelligent paths to a particular target. Take a look at the new Finder project.

As long as I'm writing, let me also announce the re-release of an un-related program: Amiga TechnoVenture. With the help of Joona I Palaste I was able to collect all the old AMOS Pro source code for Amiga TechnoVenture and the map editor and re-release the whole thing as freeware. Check out TV125R.lha at Aminet in games/jump.

January 9, 2002

TilePic fixed. If you downloaded the TilePic utility (see December 18 news item) on or before today, you may want to get the new verison. The first release had an error that assumed the height of the tiles were the same as the width. This has been fixed so non-square tiles will work properly now. The file is available for download here.

January 4, 2002

Recording and playback scripts available. My brother Seth and I, over vacation, created a script to record gameplay in GameDev. The record script simply needs to be specified as the script file for a GameDev shortcut. It will then record all input that happens during gameplay. When you press button 4 (whatever you have defined it to be) it will create a file called Play.vbs that you can use to play back the recorded game sequence! Note, if you have a game that requires other script in order to play properly you will have to manually incorporate the recording code into your script in order to record. You will also have to manually merge the playback code in order to play it back. The script to record gameplay is here: Record.vbs. There's also a playback script that plays Rolly the Purple Ball all the way through here: Play.vbs.

December 18, 2001

New Tileset Tool Available. I decided to make a little tool this morning to help assemble a series of image files into a single tileset bitmap. The program accepts a file pattern (like "C:\My Documents\Images\Car*.bmp") and creates a single bitmap containing all the images that match the specified pattern. All images must be the same size. The new tool is available for download here.

December 12, 2001

GameDev 1.2.3 Released. In the process of completing Rolly I tried to keep track of bugs that I ran accross. This version is purely a bug-fix release to catch up on miscellaneous fixes that have gone in. See the release notes for details on all the bugs that were fixed.

Rolly completed. Take a look at the Projects page to see the first real completed project for GameDev! It's a full game done entirely with GameDev... and without even scripting!

November 11, 2001

New Projects Page. Notice the new link in the navigation bar at the left, and the fact that the "Projects" section has been removed from this page. One GameDev project has been submitted, and I've been working on a project of my own. I've decided to separate off the projects section hoping that it will get big enough to warrant its own page eventually. Take a look at the new Projects page and check these projects out.

September 11, 2001

EXE-Install-Packager Released. Today, thanks to further pushing from the public, and suggestions from a few specific individuals, I am happy to finally announce the release of a GameDev stand-alone install packager solution. (See Acknowledgements at the bottom for notes of thanks.) If you look at The EXE-Install-Packager package you will see the source code and EXE for a little program that will help you generate scripts for use with NSIS. (You only need the EXE). Details of this release are in the Release Notes for release 1.0 of the new package.

August 8, 2001

About the Author. Just a small update: I've added a link to the navigation bar. It jumps to a newly added page on this site with a little background info about myself.

June 10, 2001

Scripting Wizard 1.0.1 Released. The update to the scripting wizard fixes the UI bug and adds support for playing a sound when shooting. The latest version of the scripting wizard has not been added to the main GameDev-Install package, so if you want the latest scripting wizard, you must download release 1.0.1 of the Scripting-Wizard package.

May 21, 2001

Version 1.2.2 Released. Probably the most exciting feature of this release is the new Scripting Wizard. The scripting wizard finally makes it easy to make games where you can shoot! See the GameDev release notes for a full list of fixes and features for 1.2.2. Also see the Scripting Wizard release notes for some more information on the scripting wizard. A few additional notes on the scripting wizard are in order:

There's a small UI glitch in the 1.0.0 release wherein one checkbox is never disabled. This is only a UI problem and should not affect functionality. I will probably release a 1.0.1 scripting wizard soon to fix this. But feel free to download early and download often -- the Scripting Wizard is a very small package!
As mentioned in the release notes, the scripting wizard does not support merging with existing script code. I imagine this is not going to be a problem for most people since they either know how to write script (and know how to merge code) or they don't (and don't have any code to merge with).
In order to optimize script code, I have made Max Instances a required value in the wizard.
The wizard does not let you change the auto-repeat speed, but this is easily set by replacing the value "10" in the generated script with any value you want. Higher values repeat more slowly. (10 will occur only once if you haven't specified it as one of your parameters.)
The initial release requires that firing be implemented the same on all maps within a project. A SpriteDef by the specified name must exist on all maps. If this is a big deal, put your vote in for an improvement here (see below).
If "Sprite stops moving" looks like a confusing option for "Stop sprite When...", I should explain that these checkboxes actually determine when the bullet sprite is removed from the map. "When sprite stops" means that the bullet will be terminated when it stops movng (probably because it hit a wall).
In the initial release, the scripting wizard is somewhat limited in how it deals with inventory. If you need more complex interaction, it will have to be handled by manually editing script code. If you need more power, put your vote in (see below).

As you can see there are a few limitations to the scripting wizard. But it's a big step in the right direction. Please, if you have a favorite feature that you really want improved, voice your opinion in the discussion area. The scripting wizard will probably be much easier to update than GameDev. It's such a nice small package. My first task will be to fix the UI glitch (very easy). Then I could focus on confining firing to specific maps or improving inventory support, or whatever you think is most important.

April 24, 2001

GameDev Scripting Reference Available. There is now some basic documentation for scripting available in the documentation area for gamedev on SourceForge. The new documentation is very basic (and even imperfect -- the syntax generation has a bug for members that return enumerated types right now), but it's better that nothing. It's available at GameDev Scripting Reference.

April 7, 2001

Uploaded to Planet Source Code. If you like, pay a visit to this project and give a show of support with your vote. The hope is that posting GameDev at that site will help more people who may be interested to find this source code.

March 23, 2001

Version 1.2.1 released. This version with fixes to previously mentioned bugs is now available on SourceForge and in the downloads area. See the release notes for the list of changes.

March 19, 2001

Found one more bug. I'll try to start work on version 1.2.1 today or tomorrow. The only additional bug (found through discussion in the discussion area) is the fact that you can't play a multimedia clip that does not contain audio. Hopefully I can fix everything within a week and have a new version posted next week sometime.

March 12, 2001

Bug Alert. I've been noticing a few small bugs cropping up here and there. All but one has been around since version 1.0 and apparently gone unnoticed. Please, if you run accross any bugs in GameDev, let me know. I plan on a bug-fix release 1.2.1 soon because of these bugs. I would like to get as close as possible to eliminating all bugs before doing so. So I request that all known issues be submitted to me by Monday, March 19. I will keep a running list of issues posted in this news area so all can know which have been reported. Here's the first batch containing the issues I found:

Attempting to import a 64x64-pixel tile from a 64x64 pixel bitmap has a rounding error that results in GameDev thinking the bitmap is only 63x63. GameDev will not allow you to import unless you add a pixel to each dimension of the bitmap first.
Tile animations are not reset before editing the map, therefore any animations that must be synchronized may not appear correctly in the editor.
Under certain circumstances, a sprite template (being loaded from a MAP file) will forget the solidity definition with which it is associated. This occurs when the length of the solidity definition name bitwise- ANDed with the length of the tileset name (for that solidity) turns out to be zero. For instance, if your solidity definition is called "standard" (8 characters) and the tileset used for it is called "tsMain" (6 characters) the expression (6 AND 8) results in zero -- no sprites will remember that they use the "standard" solidity definition after the project is loaded from GDP/MAP files. (XML works OK though.)
XML files neglected to save the names of the collision classes, so if you use the play command from within the development environment and have the option enabled that exports the current state to XML and re-imports it after playing, then the names of the collision classes will be gone. Of course the same applies if you export to XML file and re-import. (Everything will still work fine, just the names won't be there.)

February 19, 2001

Version 1.2 Released. Lots of new features and a few unreported bugs fixed. See the release notes of GameDev-Install-1.2.0.ZIP for a detailed list of new features, also click on the "GameDev Documentation" link on the left to see the updated documentation. Find the new files in the downloads section.

January 21, 2001

Quick Start Tutorial. If the tutorial included with GameDev is too much to take and you just want to get started with creating the simplest game possible, try out the new Quick Start Tutorial.

January 6, 2001

Out of Beta. Having heard no problem reports and encountering no further problems myself for the past 4 months, I have taken GameDev out of Beta and recategorized it as stable.

December 13, 2000

Graphics available. Michael Miller of Fort Worth, Texas has contributed a set of graphics with a castle theme. Currently SourceForge's ability to accept new release files does not seem to be in order, but the graphics can be downloaded from this link.

December 6, 2000

Anonymous Open Discussion. SourceForge has now implemented support for anonymous posts in discussion groups. Now you don't have to sign up for a SourceForge account in order to participate in the Open Discussion group. Please feel free to post your news, thoughts and questions about GameDev there. I'll be checking the discussion daily to answer any questions that may arise. (Scripting anyone?)

November 13, 2000

Feedback requested. GameDev has been out for 2 months now and nobody is posting in the discussion or e-mailing. If the required SourceForge registration is holding you back from posting in the discussion area, I invite you to e-mail your comments and questions to BlueMonkMN@email.com or suggest other discussion forums to link to from here. I would be interested to know how many people actually find GameDev useful out of the thousands of downloads that have accumulated. I'm happy to answer questions.

October 16, 2000

XML Export Support Added. I added a new patch this morning that will export all the data related to a game project (except for the contents of the BMP files and the media files) into an XML document. This should come in handy for those who want to use GameDev as a sort of resource editor, and use this data in their own external programs. The process involves starting up GameDev with the project to be exported specified on the command line. Also on the command line is the "/p" switch used to specify the script (supplied in the patch) to run which will export the data from the loaded project to an XML file. See the readme included in the patch for details. Download the patch here. (Note: Save the patch as a ZIP file.)

Art Libraries Coming Up. There are a couple artists who have volunteered to contribute some effort into creating some graphics for use with GameDev. I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I haven't done a whole lot of graphics myself and it will be quite nice to work with maps based on some nice-looking pre-done graphics. Those graphics can be quite time consuming to do on one's own.

September 25, 2000

Released version 1.1.0-Beta. This version includes a new sample game with some interesting design time and runtime scripts. DngnEdit.vbs is a design time script that connects to the map editor and "fixes up" the currently visible screen when you press the "f" key. This includes copying tiles that need to overlap the wizard sprites from the background layer to the foreground layer as well as filling in the front surfaces of walls not supported by the tilematch. (The "a" key does the same for the entire map.)

Thanks to Nathan Shores for helping out with the graphics and narration on this sample. It's not a complete game, but definitely more interesting than the tutorial. The sample, the associated scripts and some template scripts (to implement your own design-time scripting) are all included with the GameDev-Install and the GameDev-Source packages.

Some bugs were also fixed in the process of creating this sample and preparing the whole 1.1.0 package, so no option is provided for downloading the Sample project independently. See the release notes (especially the change log) for details.

September 16, 2000

Started work on a sample game. Interesting thing is I figured out how to make an isometric 3-D-ish view even though GameDev wasn't designed with that in mind. I bet there are a lot of interesting things that can be done with GameDev which I hadn't thought of as I designed it. Hope there'll be something worth uploading in a couple weeks.

September 14, 2000

There were a couple rough spots in getting the initial packages together. GameDev had to be updated to make the help work and the GameDev-Install and GameDev-Source packages had to be re-uploaded. The version number has been increased and we should now have a working install. The GameDev-Install package will install everything necessary to get GameDev up and running. The 1.0.0-beta releases have been deactivated in favor of 1.0.1-beta.

September 13, 2000

GameDev 1.0.0 released into beta at SourceForge.net; this site created.
I've been at it for about two years: working on BMDXCtls and GameDev. And now that the documentation is complete, it's finally ready for release into beta!
See the downloads section for the files to install GameDev.
Check back soon for a sample game, or submit your own sample.