Canvas 3D

2003-02-04

I stumbled upon Canvas 3D today. It's a 3D modeling and animation program. There's a free version, a lite version and a full version. The lite version is only $35 and the full version is only $70. The lite and full versions read and write the DirectX format files so if you are trying to get started in game development this might be something you want to check out.

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The Scrolling Game Development Kit

2003-01-19

Somebody recently told me about the Scrolling Game Development Kit. If you are looking learn out to make games that might be a good way to get started

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Game Development Forums

2002-11-09

I finally decided to open up a forum for discussing game development.  If you have a question about game development or you would just like to discuss something about game development please leave a message.  Also, feel free to respond to other people's questions and comments.

How do I access the forums?

Click here.  Note: even if you have registered at Greggman.com for leaving comments you will need to register separately to use the forums.  See below.

What are the forums for?

They are currently for discussing game development.  Anything game development related is fair game.  You want to talk technical that's fine.  I can try.  You want to ask a newbie question that's fine too. As they get more popular I will start dividing them into smaller categories.

Why do you have the forums?

Because I get too much e−mail asking how to get into the industry or how to make a game.  Instead of answering each person individually my naive hope is that people will first check if the answer is already in the forums and save me from having to answer it twice.  It is also my hope that some of my friends in the industry will help answer some of the questions.

Why can't I log in?

One possible reason is because you need to register separately to use the forum vs. registering to leave comments on the regular website pages.  I hope someday to fix that but as I don't have the time I thought it was better to make the forums available now instead of waiting until I got around to it.

What are the RULES?

Please don't be mean.  Please don't call people names.  Please do your best to be thoughtful and helpful.  And, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE see if you can find the answer already there.  I don't have time to answer every question so if I get too many of the same questions I'll have no time to answer any.

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How to make partnership agreements

2001-04-12

Question: I'm a graphic designer and I'm developing a Flash (macromedia) game and I found a guy who's available to help me out with the code. The idea of the game is mine, I designed the game and I wrote most of the code already (it still need to be optimized and some features need to be added) and did all the graphics. I would need his help cause of my limited programming skills (I'm not a professional programmer) and cause it would really take me too long to develop the game all by myself.

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VRAM, Tiles and Sprites on Tilebased consoles

2001-03-26

Question:The other day I came across your website, and found it very interesting − especially your video game articles, and tales of life in Japan − in fact I'm actually drinking an Asahi beer as I write this. Incidentally, I was once a subscriber to "The Journal of Computer Game Design", and remember reading your tutorial with Dan Chang at the end of 1992 about the programming of the NES M.C. Kids.

I've got a couple of questions, and wonder if you can assist with any advice about the following and/or point me in the direction of any further resources, such as good links on the Web?

(1) Curved Platforms.

I'm just getting into OpenTUME, so I'm sure this question may be answered after a little experimentation. With curved / variable height walking surfaces, such as those found in games such as the SNES Earthworm Jim, because TUME is so feature−rich, in order to get a Quick Start, what specific areas of TUME should I be learning about, or concentrating on to implement this?

(2) Object Management Systems.

Being interested in Gameboy Advance programming, I'm researching the various (possibly innovative) systems and ways that programmers managed the SNES and Genesis object (sprite) memory. i.e. how they allocated and handled (a) the image data that was placed in VRAM once at the start of level and left there, and then 🍺 the other object image data which had to be DMA'd every frame, such as hero and enemy animations. Plus all the other considerations, such as different object sizes (8x8, 8x16, 32x32 etc.) that make up an image, and how to make best use of the object VRAM without any, or too much fragmentation. Did a few techniques gain prominence amongst developers, or did people end up using many disparate methods?

Answer:Generally I would think of VRAM as characters (characters = text = fonts = one 8x8 16 color block of memory on the SNES/Genesis or 4 color on Gameboy. I don't know the details of GBA but it looks like a SNES (since they are porting SNES games) so I'm going to assume it's similar.

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Desiging a game based on existing characters

2000-11-24

Hello. I was wondering if you could help answer a few questions I have regarding the videogaming industry for me?

I am going to give you a scenario to help explain a current situation for a friend of mine who is just starting a company.

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I would like to become a designer

2000-11-18

Subject: question about job in videogame industry

Dear Sir,

My name is Laurence Tel. I live in Holland. I'm 20 years old. I have a question I hope you can help me with. I'm very interested into videogames and would like to make a career in the videogame industry. I would like to become a designer.

I know there are Universities in England that give computergames related courses. In particularly I'm interested in two Universities:

  1. the University of Abertay Dundee, with the course BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology and BA (Hons) Computer Arts.
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What college courses should I take for video games?

2000-11-13

What's up Greggman? My name is Justin. I'm planning on starting college next fall, and would like a few ideas from you if you don't mind. I've always been interested in computers, technology, video games and such, and think I would like to pursue a career in one of those fields, or a combination of the three, but I don't know where to start. I know that that is what the schools advisors are for, but I wanna have some ideas goin in. I would like to know where to start in the following fields. Video Game design, programming, and also what are some of the high paying, always in demand jobs in the computer industry? If you could give me some ideas on fields and where to start in those fields, I would really appreciate it. Thank You.

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How much does it cost to make a game?

2000-11-11

Hey greggman− maybe you can help me out− I'm a college student doing research on how video games may be used to deter kids from violence and delinquency− sounds crazy− but would you happen to know how much it costs a company to produce an original video game − thank ya greggman!

It depends on the game. I can tell you that a certain team I worked on which had about 15 people for a year cost 2.5 million and that's development costs only. That does not include advertising, duplication, distribution, returns etc. I can also tell you that the next title from that same team is going to cost 4 times that, twice as many people working twice as long. It all depends on the game.

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Licensing my characters to other companies

2000-10-24

I found your material online and I hope you can spare a few minutes to give me some advice.

I am former writer and editor with professional credentials, garnered over 10 years, with the big boys of comics and fantasy fiction publishing.

I have started a character licensing company and the first property is just about ready for consideration from potential licensees.

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