Nostatic Software Dev Blog

Block Zombies Review Round-up

2012-01-26T09:59:00.000-08:00

Block Zombies has been out for a week now, and a number of reviews have popped up around the internet. The verdict? They like it!

Trendy Gamers gave it a 9/10, saying it "may just be the most outrageously fun and charming game a single dollar can buy".

Armless Octopus gave it 4/5 stars, saying "the game’s carefree visual style and upbeat tempo makes Block Zombies! an absolute delight to play". They also awarded it their "Bloody Tentacle" of the week.

Did Not Finish says "Block Zombies is the embodiment of everything that is right with Xbox Live Independent Games".

OtakuDante's Gaming says it offers "escape from the normal zombie titles that plague the video game marketplace".

Dealspwn calls Block Zombies "a damn fine shooter".

Block Zombies Released!

2012-01-18T19:01:00.000-08:00

I did up a little release trailer for Block Zombies, which is now available on the Indie Games section of the Xbox marketplace.

The marketplace game page is here.

Now on to the next game... :-)

Quiet, Please! Post Compo Version

2012-01-04T13:40:00.001-08:00

Since making "Quiet, Please!" for Ludum Dare 22, I've taken some time to improve on it and add additional content. I was really happy with what I was able to accomplish in the 48hr time period, but I had a lot of ideas that I was not able to get to.

The biggest criticism of the compo version was its length. This updated version has new areas, new and improved puzzles, an intro and a lot more sound and art assets.

The new version of "Quiet, Please!" can be played in a web browser (Unity) here:

Quiet, Please! Post Compo Version

The original, 48hr entry is here.

Here are a few screenshots from the new version of the game:

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T09:06:00.001-08:00

Quiet, Please!

2011-12-19T11:10:00.001-08:00

This past weekend, I made a little adventure game for the Ludum Dare 48-hour competition.

Whenever I do something like this, I'm amazed at how much it is possible to accomplish in two short days when you really focus. I'm also reminded how hard it is to complete a game in a short period of time...

Anyway, have a go at the game. It is called "Quiet, Please!" and it is about a girl who just wants to be alone (the theme for the competition was "Alone").

Play it on the web here.

Ludum Dare entry page here.

Title Screen Sequence for Block Zombies

2011-10-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

I added a bit of violence to the title screen sequence in Block Zombies.

First stab at box art for Block Zombies

2011-10-08T08:24:00.000-07:00

As part of putting together a playtest build of Block Zombies I took an initial shot at doing some box art. I'm going for something simple, but (hopefully) eye-catching.

Flamethrower and RPG in Block Zombies

2011-10-07T17:58:00.000-07:00

I've added a flamethrower and an RPG to round out the array of weapons in Block Zombies. I think that should just about do it for the core combat mechanics.

Block Zombies Playable Credits

2011-09-09T11:57:00.001-07:00

Block Zombies will carry on my tradition of having playable credits in my games. This is what I have so far.

I haven't decided exactly what the "game" will be yet. Maybe you get a trophy if you manage to take out all of the zombies.

Block Zombies: Aerial News Footage of the Infected Zone

2011-09-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a video using the CRT screen effect I mentioned in my last blog post.

I'm planning on using something like this as an intro scene, or perhaps as the backdrop for my game menus.

Using shaders to create an old CRT TV screen effect

2011-08-30T15:08:00.000-07:00

I've been playing around with adding an effect to make Block Zombies look like it is playing on an old, crappy TV. It still needs tweaking, but it is starting to get close to what I want.

Using a couple of screen-space shaders, I'm blurring, adding scanlines, desaturating and adding darkened corners.

I'm not planning on using this effect in-game, but I'm thinking that the intro will be some sort of news-ticker with footage of the scene of the zombie outbreak.

Block Zombies: Dark and Stormy Gameplay

2011-08-26T12:22:00.001-07:00

I've been working on adding darkness, thunder and lightning to Block Zombies.

I used a modified version of the technique I used for Kung Fu FIGHT! - tweaking parameters in my bloom shader to do most of the work. Because Block Zombies is 3D, I also mess with the light direction, which does fun things with the shadows when lightning strikes.

Because the effect is just manipulating lighting and bloom parameters, it is basically cost-free. I haven't added in actual rain yet, since that definitely wouldn't be cost-free, and I'm not sure I can afford the extra overhead.

The glowy zombie eyes, windows and sparks are done by reserving a section of my color palette that my shaders recognize and treat as being self-lit.

Block Zombies

2011-08-22T12:41:00.001-07:00

Here is the first work-in-progress gameplay video from Block Zombies - my next game for Xbox LIVE Indie Games.

The core gameplay is mostly done, and I'm now working on adding more variety to the enemies and environments.

I'm hoping to get it out the door in the next month or so.

Kung Fu FIGHT! now on WP7

2011-08-04T21:29:00.000-07:00

The Windows Phone 7 version of Kung Fu FIGHT! is now available!

I was worried about how it would translate to the phone, but it runs really well - even with the downgrade to 30fps.

I was also concerned about the touch controls, but that ended up not being a problem.

If anything, I think I might prefer the phone version to the Xbox one - it works really well with the "pick up and play for a bit" affordance that the handheld device offers.

If you have a Windows phone, you can grab it here:

Kung Fu FIGHT! for Windows Phone

Kung Fu FIGHT! on WP7

2011-07-16T11:30:00.001-07:00

The past few days I've been working on getting Kung Fu FIGHT! working on WP7. When creating the game, I was very careful to keep portability in mind. That has paid off, since it is already mostly done.

I just need to do some more tweaking on the UI and tighten up my touch controls.

MapCache - Offline Maps for WP7

2011-07-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

Update: MapCache is now available in the Windows Phone Marketplace here: MapCache Offline Maps for WP7

I have a shiny WP7 smartphone, but I don't have a data plan. I just don't need it enough to justify the hefty monthly fee. I like paying the roughly $8 a month that GoPhone service costs me.

Still, the phone has that nice GPS functionality, and having a map in your pocket can really come in handy sometimes. But how can you have access to a map without a data plan?

The solution - map caching. MapCache is an application that lets you browse around a map while you have a connection, all the while caching the map areas you view for later use offline.

Note that this isn't just useful for people like me without data plans. In can also be useful when:

you have a limited data plan that you want to minimize use of
you want to avoid prohibitive roaming charges
you want maps when you are in an area of limited or no coverage

A while back, I was in Tijuana with a group of people, many of whom had smartphones with data plans. Everyone wanted to use maps on their phones, but the roaming data charge was so expense that it just didn't make sense. A pre-cached map would have solved the problem.

MapCache has most of the features you would expect from a smartphone mapping application. It locates you via GPS, and you can browse around the map or use search tools to find places or businesses. The map tile data comes from openstreetmap.org which, unlike map services from Google or Microsoft, allows you to cache data. Place and local business search are provided by Yahoo! PlaceFinder and Local Search.

The application is pretty much finished. I'm wrapping up a few remaining items on my todo list, and plan to submit it to the WP7 marketplace shortly.

Kung Fu FIGHT! Released!

2011-06-17T11:24:00.001-07:00

Kung Fu FIGHT! is now available on Xbox LIVE.

You can find it in the web-based marketplace here:

Download Kung Fu FIGHT!

Kung Fu FIGHT! Dream Build Play 2011 Trailer

2011-06-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

This is the trailer I put together when submitting Kung Fu FIGHT! to the 2011 Dream Build Play competition.

OpenStreetMap Slippy Map in WP7

2011-06-02T12:11:00.000-07:00

I'm procrastinating putting the final touches on Kung Fu FIGHT! and have been messing around more with WP7.

I've pretty quickly been able to put together a simple draggable map using OpenStreetMap tile data. It is definitely cool to have such a high quality source of map data freely available. Fun stuff.

Quite a Weekend

2011-05-02T09:11:00.001-07:00

Pork butt was smoked:

Beer was brewed (a west-coast double IPA):

And a game was made:

The game is called "Ascent of Kings" and I made it for LD20. You can get it from the Ludum Dare website here.

Spikes

2011-04-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

What game wouldn't be made better with the addition of a few spikes?

Another new way of many to meet your demise in Kung Fu FIGHT!

Alpha Version of Kung Fu FIGHT! (Act I) Available

2011-04-22T12:04:00.001-07:00

The first section of Kung Fu FIGHT! is now pretty much done, so I am making a new windows alpha version available for people to have a go at.

This version is built with DirectX. I've tried to keep the dependencies to a minimum. Here's what you need:

DirectX (June 2010 build). Get it here: DirectX End-User Runtime.
.NET 2.0. Comes with Vista and Windows 7. Otherwise, get it here: .NET 2.0.

And of course you need Kung Fu Fight!:

Kung Fu FIGHT! Act I Alpha

Give it a try, and let me know what you think.

Lightning and Thunder

2011-04-15T10:18:00.001-07:00

I added some ambiance to the rainy section of Kung Fu FIGHT! with some thunder and lightning.

Kung Fu FIGHT! Brutal Difficulty Gameplay Video

2011-04-12T13:53:00.001-07:00

Here is a play through of the first section of Kung Fu FIGHT! on the Brutal difficulty level.

My hand-eye coordination has definitely improved since I started working on this game :-) I almost made it through without dying.

Randomization In Games - Managing Player Expectations

2011-04-11T14:59:00.001-07:00

Generating random numbers for use in games is easy. In C#, it is as simple as creating an instance of the Random class and calling Next() on it. Want to decide if an event should occur given a particular probability? Easy, just call Random.Next() and check if the result is less that your probability (expressed as a value from 0 to 1).

The results of this simple approach, however, do not always do a good job of creating behavior that corresponds to a player's expectations. This is because the results are truly random (ok, psuedorandom - but that's generally random enough) and events are independent. By independent, I mean that the result of a probability check does not depend in any interesting way on previous checks. Like flipping a coin, it doesn't matter if you have gotten 9 heads in a row - the probability of getting heads on the next flip is still exactly 50%.

People, however, have a tendency to assume that past result *do* influence future ones. In the case of flipping a coin, this assumption is irrational. In other cases, though, it isn't so much. A key example of this is selecting items randomly from a collection. If you replace items between choosing, then each selection is random and independent of the others. If, however, you do not replace items that you have chosen, this is no longer the case.

The notion of selecting items from a collection without replacement is a very useful one in games, and can result in random behavior that is much more in line with player expectations than independent probability checks.

In working on Kung Fu FIGHT!, I ran into this problem a lot. For example, when an enemy throws a shuriken, I have to decide if they should throw high or low. I started with a simple 50% probability check, but this sometimes resulted in a long string of high or low throws in a row. Perfectly reasonable from a probability perspective, but not what I wanted. On the other hand, simply alternating between high and low seemed too regular.

What to do?

I created a simple helper class to allow me to select random values from a finite "bucket". Here is how it works for my shuriken throwing behavior. To initialize the bucket:

Random random = new Random();

RandomBucket<bool> throwBucket = new RandomBucket<bool>(random).Add(true, 2).Add(false, 2);

What this does is initialize a bucket and fill it with two 'trues' and two 'falses'.

Then, to decide to throw high or low, simply do:

if (throwBucket.Choose())
{
  // throw high
}
else
{
  // throw low
}

Each time we call Choose(), a random value is selected from the bucket and take out of the list of available values. When we run out of values, the bucket is refilled with its original contents.

The result of this is random behavior with local dependencies. Each time I select a value, the probability that I get that value again next time goes down. You can't get more than four trues or falses in a row - and even that is fairly unlikely. If we only put 1 true and one false in the bucket instead of two of each, the behavior becomes even more locally dependent. Adding more values in makes things more random.

In addition to having nice properties for game randomness, the RandomBucket class also make for simple, clean code. For example, when I shoot out spark particles for bombs, I use a color bucket to choose what color a spark is:

RandomBucket<Color> colors =
  new RandomBucket<Color>(random).Add(Color.Yellow, 1).Add(Color.Orange, 1).Add(Color.Red, 1);

Color sparkColor = colors.Choose();

Here I am spitting out the colors in equal volumes, but I could easily change the ratios by altering the numbers when seeding the bucket.

Here is the RandomBucket class. As you can see, it is pretty simple. It doesn't generate garbage (an important quality for Xbox development) and it is quite efficient for reasonably small numbers of values, which should be the case since if you use a large number of values you might as well just use true randomness.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace MyCoolNamespace
{
    public class RandomBucket<T>
    {
        List<T> chooseList = new List<T>();
        List<T> discardList = new List<T>();
        Random random;

        public RandomBucket(Random random)
        {
            this.random = random;
        }

        public RandomBucket<T> Add(T value, int number)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < number; i++)
            {
                chooseList.Add(value);
            }

            return this;
        }

        public T Choose()
        {
            if (chooseList.Count == 0)
            {
                List<T> tmp = chooseList;
                chooseList = discardList;
                discardList = tmp;
            }

            int pos = random.Next(chooseList.Count);

            T obj = chooseList[pos];

            chooseList.RemoveAt(pos);

            discardList.Add(obj);

            return obj;
        }

        public void Clear()
        {
            chooseList.Clear();
            discardList.Clear();
        }
    }
}