October 3rd, 2008
It would seem that from 9am onwards, Nigel Barlow is taking every lecture and practical of my day.
Something I spotted in his second session (but only lecture of the day) was the reference to “Computers which don’t look like computers?” links that go to miniature computer motherboard PCBs that run some form of inbuilt operating system. I’d say something like this could have a lot of potential for the games module should we want to build some form of physical installation.
The examples given were Gumstix and Colibri Modules.
Uploads
I’ve also managed to upload a few more images of times gone onto Flickr. Generally they’re heading for the Traditional Artwork set.
October 1st, 2008
The introduction of two different modules was covered today, the 6,000 to 10,000 word Dissertation (PRID301) and the Programming for Entertainment Systems (SOFT 323).
Geoff Cox mentioned that keeping a blog for reflection on the process behind producing the dissertation was a good idea, so I think it is time to start creating a few new Categories and portfolio areas!
Additionally, I really ought to structure my portfolio a bit better so that I can hold a range of some of my industrial level work as well as continue showcasing i-Dat as this site was originally intended.
September 16th, 2008
So for a few days I’ve been experimenting with various bits of code, using a Kirupa tutorial as a starting grounds, in order to create the effect of rendering 3D objects in Flash. It has been a bit hard trying to figure out how to do things but eventually I wrote a few functions that basically put a cube of cubes (the basis for my flash game idea) onto the screen and could be rotated in three dimensions.
This was all well and good but now I have been stumped by figuring out how to sort the z-order and making the drawing more efficient by ignoring parts that are hidden behind other parts.
June 29th, 2008
Thinking ahead to the 4th year game’s module and the fact I heard that part of the module is writing an essay on a game, well here is my most likely answer:
Personally I think this is the best game concept ever, and its still great after ten years.
March 13th, 2008
As a follower of the Half Life 2 series, naturally I have tried Portal and was kept amused by it for a little while, solving a series of puzzles with the portal gun set by a mad AI computer obsessed with cake.
However in my search for ideas for something I could make in Flash for my final year autumn term module Scripting for Digital Media (IDAT311) - (I am thinking I may as well get a long headstart on as much as I can now) - I found an amazing recreation of the portal game in a 2D Flash form. It can be found at http://portal.wecreatestuff.com/ - Portal: The Flash Version
February 29th, 2008
The time has come for me to decide which final year modules I shall be taking for i-dat and its shaped up thus:
Dissertation (20 credits) and BSc Project (40 credits) - these aren’t exactly optional, they must be done.
IDAT310 Design for Entertainment Systems (20 credits) - we’ve already formed a group to work on this with and hence…
IDAT323 Programming for Entertainment Systems (20 credits) - …someone will need to have studied the programming side. I also expect to be able to use 3D, DirectX and C++ perhaps in my final year project.
IDAT311 Scripting for Digital Media (10 credits Autumn term) - Some hopefully familiar turf studying OOP in Flash and producing ’something that does something’.
IDAT312 Narrative and Digital Form (10 credits Spring term) - should be nice apparently to study while writing my own dissertation.
I’ve also realised this is the only time I can post on this date for another four years…
The flash actionscript behind this is flexible enough to allow for any size
puzzle to be created and jumbled as many times as I like. In addition to this,
the difficulty of rotating pieces is also a feature.