Summer Distractions 2010

Well it's been a while since I made a post last. I've been rather busy with many different projects and summer holidays that didn't last long enough in my opinion. :)

Not helping the situation much is the new release of StarCraft 2, which I've been having through steadily. What an excellent upgrade from the first one. Everything is in amazingly great 3D detail with awesome special effects, a great storyline and an incredible environment to explore and purchase game-affecting unit upgrades in between missions. Call me biased, but I give SC2 5 out of 5 stars for getting the real-time strategy game 100% right!


Another one of my distractions is the super nifty Spore. Yeah, it's been out for a few years now, but as it's my first time picking up the game, I'm having my fun now. If you have this game and want to see what I've been up to, so a search in your Sporepedia for the Skrill race that originates from planet Avalon. ;) Hey if you're gonna steal from something, might at least steal from something cool sounding.

My creation about to head into the Space era.

Thankfully I finally finished 'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed' which looks just amazing on visuals as it immerses you into the Star Wars universe amoung many of it's popular locations. Being able to play as different Jedi and Sith characters was also a cool touch, along with the ability to add new force powers, customize the color and look of my lightsaber, replay past missions and unlock everything trying to find all the holocons. Then again it was also pretty darn fun to crash a star destroyer into the ground. mwahaha! *ahem* Did I mention great visuals?

And last, but not least my other and hopefully last distraction for a while, 'inFamous' for PS3. I mean, who wouldn't want to be a superhero? Whats great about this game is that not only does it take place in a contemporary world, but instead of pouring on the classic superhero themes that have been done time and again, it takes on more of a sci-fi feel to it instead. Oh, it's a superhero game, but it's more sci-fi in the way it tells the story and how people react to your character and all the evil gangs and supervillians. I have yet to finish this one, so hopefully I can tear myself away long enough to get some more work done. *crosses fingers*

Anyhow, this is what has been keeping me, but hopefully I'll get back on the horse and get Issue #3 of Pascal Gamer Magazine done in time for September. I also have a few little projects that I've been dabbling with and maybe you'll get to see them if I pick them up enough in the months to come. Till then, ciao!

I am Now a Mac user!

Lat weekend I finally received my brand new 27" i7 Quad Core iMac from the store. Oh boy is this thing big and fast. :) This also means that I've started working with Lazarus and all my other lovely tools and am in the middle of trying to get them all working for Mac OS X 10.6.x aka Snow Leopard. It seems that the current state of my prefered API and libraries, JEDI-SDL and the included OpenGL headers, are not Snow Leopard ready. So this is what I'm working on now. Hopefully with the help of Stoney aka Johannes Stein we can update JEDI-SDL to work nicely in the latest version of Mac OS X while using OpenGL 2.0 headers.

I would also like to find a way to make all these installations for the Mac less painful. Installing Lazarus it's self is 3 separate downloads and even then you need to special instructions. Though having to also go to the Apple Developer website make a new account and figure out how to download Xcode and install it. On the Lazarus wiki site it is said to be a prerequisite first, but not the case it seems since I got away with installing Xcode last.

That aside, it seems that the current obstacle to get JEDI-SDL working under OS X 10.6 is to eliminate some fatal errors with the included OpenGL headers. Luckily my Scorch 2D tutorial series doesn't use any of the GL units nor does it use sdl_mixer or sdl_image so this will be a simple first run. Once I get that going successfully I can move on to tackling the GL issues in the latest JEDI_SDL.

Been a while...

Hi folks! It seems like it's been a while since I posted to my blog. But that's not to say that I haven't been busy. In fact a good few things have been going on.

I've finally released the second issue of Pascal Gamer Magazine. This issue, published in April 2010, features the 2009 PGD Annual Game Developer's Competition. There is also more articles, Coder's Block, Game Reviews and What's New content to keep you up to date with some of the events within the greater Pascal community.

The Pascal Gamer website has been given an update allowing you to more easily browse through all the past issues, download web banners and access downloadable bonus material from articles in each issue.

I've also set up an account with Lulu.com to allow you to get a copy of the first issue of the magazine in print! I'll soon add the second issue and as I publish new issues I will be adding each of those to be purchased in print as well. Just look on the details page for the issue you want and if it's available in print you'll see a 'Buy Now Lulu' button that'll take you to the store.

The new site also allows you to make donations through PayPal to help finance new things for the magazine.


Besides the magazine, I've also posted news on PGD about one of my newer projects 'Treasure Hunters: The Dark Labyrinth' which is based off an old board game I used to play as a kid. It features treasure collection, an ever shifting maze of board game tiles and a nasty minotaur chasing you through the maze. The project's showcase page is located here.





In other news, I'm almost on my way to becoming a Mac user! :D However unfortunately it seems that the Toronto-based distributors sent the wrong system. I ordered myself the really high end i7 Quad Core 27" iMac, where they sent me a i5 Quad Core. I was extremely disappointed, but decided to hand it back to the store and wait for them to contact Apple to investigate what happened in the mix-up. *sigh* Soon I hope, soon.


Thats all I really have for now. I guess if I forgot anything important I'll just have to make another post, probably not a bad idea. ;) Happy coding!

2009 PGD Annual Video Announcement

It's been a while... not only for this competition, but for me making videos as well... Here it is a bit late, but in good form. The 2009 PGD Annual Game Development Competition Video Announcement!

2009 PGD Annual Game Development Competition

It's finally back!!! :D This year the theme is Arcadia; create your own arcade game for a chance to make 1st Place and show off your game at the next Independent Game Festival.

These competitions are seriously fun and very rewarding. Nevermind all the prizes that you can win (books from Cengage Learning, content development tools and commercial games by other Pascal developers) but at the end of it all you end up with a fulling functional and polished game ready to be enhanced for release soon after. :)

Plus at the end once the judges have scored all the games for placement of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams, there are still 4 Excellence awards to be presented to the games which deserve it the most. Categories for these are Best Graphics, Best Music & Sound, Most Innovative and the Jan Horn Award for most promising newcomer.

I love these events and I'm sure you will enjoy it too, if for nothing else just to play some fun games made by the top Pascal developers. ;)

Pascal Gamer Magazine - Issue 1

Issue 1 of Pascal Gamer magazine is finally published!

The first feature is an interview with Sascha Willems and a very visual preview of his latest game, Projekt W. Also in the first issue is Allegro.pas, Delphi Live! 2009 coverage, commercial game development with Frank van Gent, game reviews and more.

Get it at www.pascalgamer.com!

'Pascal Gamer' Concept Cover

Well after seeing that there had been very little exposure of Pascal-based projects since PGD had it's major upgrade, I decided to take up the magazine project that had been started under the name 'Delphi Gamer' a while back. I'm asking for content from those that can write something about game development, their own experiences or projects or tricks and tips for graphics, audio or library specific topics.

The cover you see to the right is only a concept and will most likely drastically change by the time the issue is out. Please tell me what you think. Any ideas about content or the magazine it's self are most welcome.



You can read the PGD forum thread about the new online magazine here: http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/forum/index.php?topic=5670.0