It’s… A GAME!

Games aren’t exactly games unless there is a winning condition and a losing condition. Well, my game, I am proud to say, is … officially a playable game! Just a few seconds ago I finished collision detection for the force-fields. I am so happy my body is shaking with glee. I can actually show people my game and have them go “Wow, that’s a cool game!” The most pleasurable thing as a programmer is finishing a game. It is definitely a thing to be happy about! I’ll continue keeping you posted as the May 20^th deadline closes in…

Finishing touches… give or take a few!

The next thing I am going to do is add collision detection for the force-fields! Hopefully I can finish because as soon as the force-fields are in the game actually has a goal and a death/game over point. I am reaching the apex of a finished game. When I first send out the game it’s not going to be amazing, because my deadline may 20^th is stopping me from making it the best. I will update it so it is amazing, with new game-play options and easier start menu and there will also be a “level” aspect to the game (different parts of the galaxy) as it is in space. With new backgrounds, upgraded visuals (hopefully), better enemy intelligence, power ups and even new enemies and perhaps Boss Battles, that’s right… BOSS BATTLES!!! It’s going to be really cool, so don’t be disappointed at first, because more is YET to come!

Buttons!

YAY. I finally got my start button to work, I am so happy. It took a while, alot of debugging, break points, and a couple of hours being hunched over finding any information I can find. Doing the touch screen seemed hard at first, but it is actually very simple... if you know how to do it. Paul Laberge from Microsoft lent me a Windows phone so I could test my game on it. I am going to work on it alot more so I will try to keep updating my blog!

Touch points!

If I could say one thing about touch points... is that they are SO hard to program. You think “all games have touch points, it must be so easy to program…” well I’m here to prove that Wrong! Touch points are nearly impossible to program. I am so frustrated with it. I had to read 3 programming books, search the internet 7 times… and I am still not done. Like seriously make it easier!

That’s all I have to say… so in a game… try to make there be as less touch points as you can do. That’s kind of hard to do as well. I’ll just have to push through… and this is just the start menu to make the game go! Tell you guys if I figure it out... I'll put some sample code you can copy when I find out how!

The Art!

Blackness covered the screen, boring your mind out. That’s what would happen if there were no visuals.

The art is what appears on the screen… your character, enemies, even that annoying rock that’s in your way. In this post I will cover the art and how I made it.

I tried many art creating software but whenever I drew the character it had a white background… I looked up and downloaded gimp 2-6 and with this new software… when I started a project you could choose the background to be see-through. Now my character wouldn’t have a white background, over top the space background I drew. I was so happy, I love gimp. It works so well and you can draw some really cool stuff… good luck with your game, and if you can, try to start using Gimp!

Here is a link to gimp:  http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

How to start!

If any of you would like to start your own journey in programming phones, in this post I will enlighten you on how you start…

·         First download Microsoft Visual Studio Express on to your computer: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff630878(v=VS.92).aspx

·         You also download the Windows Phone SDK:

http://create.msdn.com/en-US/home/getting_started

·         Second start reading books about programming and try to start maybe a programming course of some sort. I will include a list of good books that teach programming on this blog site in the near future.

·         When you think you have enough info about coding to get started, try and go.

·         Remember that you will need something to run the game on, like a windows phone or you can use the emulator… but I suggest using a phone because it is a lot better than the emulator.

·         Try to find a “partner” you can work with them in making the game.

I suggest having a group of people or a partnership working on the game, different people working on different things. Remember that you probably won’t make a million dollar game on the first try… no matter what don’t give up!

Always use comments in your code it will help you understand and if you come back later debugging you will know what you are looking at. Comments will save your life.

Kick start!

One of the hardest parts in making a game is the start, mainly because you are setting the ground work for the building; at first you see nothing and you are extremely discouraged by seeing all your work only show a blank screen, but eventually you push through and your game becomes visually enticing.

 I am writing my game in XNA which I think is easier for me to manipulate than Silverlight or other types.

 Since I started the blog now… well I am already into the making of the game by 1 week or so. I have some visuals and am poking around with the music. You just need a kick start to be able to begin creating a game and for me my kick start was a code camp!

Commando Ghost Is created!

The idea I started with is Commando Ghost. Commando Ghost is my idea that I hope will take me to the top.

The game is intended to be fun and quirky even with its ghastly story.

 You are an army commander, who is protecting the world from aliens, in the heat of battle you kill the alien prince and they retreat but not without payback. The aliens zap you with a bolt of light killing you. 3 years later the aliens are back and the earth is oblivious to the fact that they are attacking. Your fighting spirit arises as you must save the world in your new phantom form.

The game uses a gyroscope to control the ghost and destroy the alien invaders, but they come back with better weapons than before. You must kill the enemies but beware the force fields and shock waves which can vaporize the ghost. You must obliterate the hordes of marauding aliens.

The art for the game was also done by me on Gimp 2-6. So it has a youthful feel to it.

I am working very hard on this and I hope you buy the game when it is finished!

Here is a screen-shot of what I have so far!

The journey begins!

On March 28^th 2012 me and my Dad went to a code camp in Toronto. This was the real place where I got the idea and had the courage to start and get going.

Many people there were very enthusiastic and supportive of these goals I had set out before me, especially because I am only 10 years old. I surprised a lot of people by just coming and by my background knowledge of the programming from reading and learning hands-on.

Three people came to run the code camp: Paul Laberge from Microsoft was teaching most of the lessons, Atley hunter, an experienced programmer, who has made games for the phone came in giving helpful advice, and Izabella Bachmanek from Wavefront was there who was running it all.

In this blog I will post about my journey in creating a game for the Windows Phone!