New Horizons

Lots has apparently changed since the last post, oh about 6 months ago.

First of all, I'm no longer a part of 0 A.D. it's been a particularly short run on that project.
I did do some changes in the code, really small ones, someone even told me I breathed new life into the project.

But then some friends of mine from college called me up, and asked me to help them do some server coding for a project they have been working on over at Dream Farmer.
I felt like it was something I could really do, based on my previous history with them and the what I was suppose to do.
So currently I'm working on a Facebook app with them, should be cool, should be released soon.

Again, I find myself really surprised at what I'm using to create these apps:
PHP knowledge I gained from an instruction video I watched during my college project, and Data Base knowledge I gained in a minor course at the university.
It just goes to show you how sometimes the small stuff also count, and become important.

On other things, I'm still studying some gaming stuff, but in a less intensive manner, meaning less courses than last year.
Did not attend Global Game Jam this year, since I haven't fulfilled my conclusions from last year.

I also want to add a new feature here, "Cool Game I Saw", I'll try and post it with every post.
So here it is:
Shank, a side-scrolling 2D platformer, very much like Metal Slug, but with a really cool visual style and really cool moves.
Check out the gameplay demo here.

Keep following, reading...

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Now playing: John Petrucci - Damage Control
via FoxyTunes

Status Update

It's been a month+ since I've posted anything in here... my new years resolution is slipping away :)

Anyway, not much to update...
Lots of work was put in to my Breakout project, this is another project that I'm doing as a part of my studies.
The whole thing is written in Java, using the LWJGL implementation of OpenGL.
It's a project that's done as a part of a course in OpenGL, its goal is to help me learn OpenGL.
The project started as a 2D implementation of the game, and now I'm building a 3D version on top of that.
The project itself is reaching the end soon, as the school year is coming to a close.
It really opened up OpenGL for me, and it gave me some desire to learn XNA.

About the big project, it's currently on the verge of imploding, so I won't update the status of that project right now.

Aside from that, I've finally put up a financial goal for the studying abroad thing.
It's a pretty large sum, but I hope to gather the cash for that in an acceptable period of time.

Have a good week

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Now playing: Dream Theater - Lines In The Sand
via FoxyTunes

Thoughts on Online Projects

Recently I learned that the leaders of a long running project, I was a part of for a short period, openFrag, have stepped down due to lack of productivity.
Although the project is not officially closed, my experience tells me that, without the leadership it won't live on, and that's a real shame since the project was in an advance stage.
(if there's anyone out there interested in leading a great group of people, head on here).

I also learned that another project I was following, Project Wish, has closed its doors after 4 years of development, again a real shame.

All these events have triggered a post in my mind.

I'm a veteran of more than 4 projects like these, most of them ended in the same way.
I always looked to other projects to see if they are fairing better than my failing projects, and yes there were some that were still out there fighting to survive.
But now when I look at these projects and see, that they have crashed and burned just like all my projects it makes me wonder:
Do these kind of projects have any chance of making it?

Well, the answer is complicated, it all depends on your definition of "making it".
If your definition is creating a game and making money of it, than the answer is mostly "no".

On the other hand, if your definition is creating a finished product, then the percentage is higher.
We just have to look at The Silver Lining project, a project to create continuation to King's Quest, which is looking at a release date soon.
Is there a key to their success?
Well, I don't know, but form a purely observational point of view, their key to success is their project management, the project is lead by some very motivated individuals.
They put emphasis on community and from what I understand keep a tight shift and schedule, which gives its results.
Not to say that the team hasn't got anything to do with it, they're too motivated and passionate about the game's origins and it's current route.
But since the team can change during the lifetime of the project, it's important to keep a motivated and dedicated leading staff.

Getting back to our discussion...
I think that the best way to define "making it" in these kinds of projects, is by the learning experience.
Because let's face it most of these projects don't make it to a final product, the project depends on so much people form all corners of the world, it's tough keeping them in line, so they stop participating, they stop communicating and the project just stops.
So, I think these projects are a learning experience at best, if you get out of the project with a new thing learned, then you've made it.

So go out, find a project and join it, it's fun, you meet new people, and you learn new things.
Just keep the expectations from the end result low.

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Now playing: Norah Jones - Sunrise
via FoxyTunes

Global Game Jam 2009 Impressions

It is now 12:00 and I officially quit the global game jam.
For those who don't know what I'm talking about an explanation follows.

The global game jam is a worldwide event, in which game developers meet in different parts of the world, for a 48 hours session of game development.
The objective is to make a working prototype/game in the said amount of time, utilizing no sleep what-so-ever.
This is the first year it is held worldwide and in turn the first time it's held in Israel.

I decided to join this event thinking, I can really make it and have a finished game by the end of the jam.
Here's the problem, I don't know Flash or any other rapid prototyping platform, which is a problem when your are trying to create a game in 48 hours.
The only thing remotely similar to that which I know is Silverlight.

So innocently I tried to make a game in Silverlight, I had a graphical designer on my "staff", but that didn't help since Silverlight sucks at creating games.
There were a few problems I encountered:

• Silverlight doesn't have any movie clip component, that means that key frame animation is out of the door.
  Although eventually I did find an open source code that gives that ability the other problem killed me.
• Silverlight doesn't have an absolute coordinates system, another important feature for a game, especially the one that I tried to make which was a platform game.
  a Gaame like that involves a lot of collision detection, which is hard to do when you have no normal way to know where your objects are.

After battling with the game for about 27 hours, I finally decided to quit (the graphical designer quit a long time before I did :) ).
I'm still gonna hang in there till the final stretch, completing some homework I have, just to see the end results of some other people.

What did I learn in this event:

• I have to learn Flash
• I hate Silverlight
• Creating a game in 48 hours is tough
• Not sleeping in that time is tougher

In coclusion, the event was really cool, about 50 people came, a really large group for such a small country.
But, it was really frustraing not to get any real game done.

Maybe next year...

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Now playing: Dream Theater - Erotomania [Instrumental]
via FoxyTunes

SVN hosting, why not?

So lately I've been working a bit with my OpenGL project, it's pretty simple, compared to other projects I worked on.
But since I'm working from my laptop and my main computer simultaneously, I find the task of synchronizing between the two PCs every time a bit too boring and time consuming (yeah, I'm lazy).

So I thought:
- "Why not have the project source controlled?"
but then I thought:
"It's such a small project, why should I use a great big hammer like source control on it?"
But I also thought:
- "What the hell, I'll look for a free one if it's out there I'll use it, plus it gives me time to stop working" (did I mention I was lazy?).

I had some experience with looking for a free source control site, and I knew it wasn't easy, but things change.
I also knew to search for SVN hosting, since it's the most popular form of source controlling these days, overthrowing CVS.
Right off the bat I found this link, that sums up the top 10 free SVN hosts, and the coolest one was xp-dev.com, 1.5GB storage, issue tracking, and project management all for free, plus everything's private (not that trivial). That's pretty cool for a free service to say the least.
Anyway, I'm just starting to use it but it's pretty easy to use, so giddy-up!

Since the project is written in Java with Eclipse, I had to integrate the SVN source control into Eclipse, quite an easy task right now, thanks open-source community!
Anyway, the plugin I use is Subclipse and it does the job for me.

I'll be happy to hear about other services/plugins you might have for me.

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Now playing: Silje Nergaard - Diner
via FoxyTunes

Happy New Year 2009!!!

Well, I did it, I made it through another year of blogging.
I looked back a little and found out I started this blog in 2006, wow, that seems like ages ago.
Although 2007 wasn't a very bolgy year (no posts at all), 2008 was year of the blog in my book, I've made the most posts in this passing year.

The Reviews
The reviews started pouring from my keyboard this passing year, already 2 reviews in a non-reviews blog, that's quite an achievement.
It's a real achievement for me, since I'm quite a lazy person. So to write a review, not even a lengthy one, is quite an achievement for me.

And what about my goal? becoming a game developer, remember?
Well, this year I destroyed some more internet-based game development projects, with my bare hands!
Just joking, I did participate in some new projects this year, although none of them really took.
The major break in this direction is me going to study game design, although it's not the "MSc abroad" I wanted to go for, but for now it's OK, I'll take it slow.
Now I'm working with other people on a game, in person I might add, and I'm writing a mini-game of my own.

Game of The Year
Well, a lot of games have been made this year, I only covered two of them in my blog, but I played a lot more, and choosing just one for this year is a bit hard.
I know GTA:IV just came out and I just started it, so I can't judge it.
So up until now I can say that the best game was Call of Duty: World at War, I won't elaborate, it was just beautifully executed, that's all.

Blog Music Artist of the Year
I don't know if you noticed or not, but I keep putting the FoxyTunes tag at the end of each blog post, that is to keep track of what I'm listening to, and to give some publicity, to FoxyTunes and the artists (like they need my publicity).
So the artist most listened to while posting is.... Dream Theater, congrats.

New Years Blog Resolution
Well, for the new year, I want to keep blogging at least at the currently achieved rate, which is not that high.
Plus, I'd like to get some audience, I keep thinking that there are people reading this blog, although I'm pretty sure there aren't any, well if you are out there, sound off damn it!

From me to you, have a great New Year!!!

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Now playing: Foo Fighters - On the Mend
via FoxyTunes

Projects a Popin'

Studying kicks up a gear, every class has some kind of homework set up.
Most of the classes I take have homework related to actually creating a game.

The first project is creating an Arkanoid clone in OpenGL, which I already started, it's always fun starting a mini project.
As I am a programmer, I do get caught up in designing the code right, and stuff like, but it's my kind of fun, so it's OK, although not entirely necessary.

The other main one is a big game project, which is done in teams, our team consists of 4 people.
I'm actually doing this as a resume thing, because I don't take that course this year, I'm just helping out, and getting some credits in the game.
Anyway, this is a totally different thing, since the project is in a group it gives a kinda grass-routes-company feel, like a start-up, everybody dreams of fame and fortune in those design sessions.
In reality it's just a school project, but I don't cancel out the possibility of it being something more.

Anyway, it's the firs time in my life I can honestly say I enjoy studying :)

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Now playing: Jane Monheit - Too Late Now
via FoxyTunes

Happy Birthday to Me!

Hey all, had a birthday few days back, just wanted to add a post before the month ends.
Everything else is the same still studying, still playing stuff.
Fallout 3 review in the works? maybe...

Anyway, birthday to me, nothing new.

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Now playing: SarcasticGamer.com - Episode 64: The 12 Days of Lono
via FoxyTunes

Not posting again

No real updates yet, I've been so busy with work that it's eating up my entire free time.
But as it's been said, "All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy".

Soon I'm going on vacation for two weeks and I'll have some time to put into OpenFrag.
It's really annoying I can't multi-task as much as I would like.

Aside from that I'm still is the sign-up process fro the gaming study program, fingers crossed.

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Now playing: Coldplay - Viva La Vida
via FoxyTunes

More real then game

WOW, long time no posty...
That's mainly since I was busy doing some RL stuff, which obviously do not interest you.

On the OpenFrag front, I'm trying to get back into it after a short recess, nothing new here.

On the RL front, I'm currently trying to sign up to a college in Israel, that provides a Game Design studying program, hope I get in.
It might be a good starting point for a gaming career, I should've done it ages ago, but better late than never, right?

Anyway, hope to keep blogging soon, for now, cya.

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Now playing: Dream Theater - Pull Me Under
via FoxyTunes

Time for reflection

Hey all...

It's a va-ca time, it passover this week, and I have a week off.
Happy holidays to everybody.

Project Assyria is not progressing at all, and I'm quite worried about it.
But, it gives me time to reflect on my current situation, maybe look over some possibilities for a new project to participate in.
Definite candidates I'll be looking into are: openFrag and Project Wish.
Two very promising projects, which I've been following for quite some time.
They both are in very progressive stages, so it's time I kill those projects :D
Just joking, of course, I'll be looking into them, because they'll give me a good chance to just get some experience under my belt.

Plus, lately I've been tossing around some game ideas in my head, so I want to look into those too, see if there's a real game in there somewhere.
Maybe it's time for me to start my own project, maybe, I don't know yet.

Aside from all that, I've been obsessing over Assassin's Creed lately, a really good looking game, and an interesting one as well.
I might throw in a game review for that one on my next post.

Anyway, cya around...

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Now playing: Eva Cassidy - Bridge Over Troubled Water
via FoxyTunes

There is a gaming industry in Israel!

Yesterday I went to GameIS, which is probably the closest thing to GDC in Israel.
To tell you the truth I expected a lot less, but got a lot more.

I can now honestly say, that there is a gaming industry in Israel, which is great.
Although, it's still a grassroots movement, but a movement nonetheless.

The lectures themselves were worth the trip, most of them were interesting and informative.
The lecture given by the CEO of Funtactix, was definitely inspiring, it's great to see somebody so excited about the gaming industry in Israel, and about Israel in general.
I just hope he doesn't get let down by our small country, because it can do that to a man :)

The lecture given by the co-founder of Invasion Interactive, was probably the closest thing to a GDC-like lecture, which I've heard so much times before in GDC/E3/DICE online lectures.
Which is quite obvious, since they were the AAA title representatives in that conference.
The greatest thing about it was that it was in Hebrew, which was pretty cool, in my opinion.

A lot of the other lectures were about casual gaming, and it growth in Israel.
Not that interesting to me, specifically, but informative nonetheless.

Other really interesting lectures and talks, were about designing games and why people like games, in the psychological aspect of things.
Maybe a bit too scientific, but there were definitely some things there I haven't really payed attention too, when I was looking at games or playing them or trying to make them.
Some of the points that were brought up in those lectures, I will keep in mind when designing/playing/programming my games.

Anyway, to sum up my experience in the conference, I can say it was a great experience, the community itself, Israeli game developers, seems like a great community to be a part of.
And I wish success to all the people that were there, and I also hope I can contribute to the effort.

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Now playing: Pat Metheny Group - The Heat Of The Day
via FoxyTunes

Small Update

Well, today I got the notice, that I did not qualify to become a beta tester in The Silver Lining.
Oh well, never mind that then.

On to newer and better things.

Game Conference AHOY!

Get ready for a quick post.

I got an invitation to the Israeli game developers conference, GameIS, a few days ago.
I don't really know how they got my details, maybe from my IGDA member's info, but I'm glad they did.
The conference itself has some great lecturers, and it sounds fun and interesting, it might also be an opportunity to handout some CVs.
So I'm taking a day off and I'm going to the conference.

Although it's no GDC or E3, it's still pretty cool...
To think that some 3 years ago, the Israeli gaming industry, was practically non-existent, and now we have our own little gaming conference.

Anyway, hope it's gonna be fun, I'll post my impressions from it, when I'll return.

G'day, Cheers

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Now playing: Dream Theater - Another Day
via FoxyTunes

Document Finished!

Finally I've finished the Yake Document I was working on all this time...

When I finished it I looked at the start date, and I came to the conclusion that I've been working on this document for a month which seems like a pretty long time to me.
It's probably due to the fact that I only work on weekends and I don't have much time, but I should do something about it if the project is going to go anywhere...
Btw, the finished document is 34 pages and a pretty interesting read, I know it was interesting to write it...

Aside from that, other things happened over the course of the week...
First of all I found out that there's going to be a meeting of the Israeli IGDA chapter later this month and I'm definitly planning on going.
Other than that, I came to the conclusion that I have to get another programmer on board, but not a regular programmer to strat working on the game, cuz it's still far of, but a co-Leader that will help me design the game from the programming aspect.
Because, that seems like a great deal of work for just one guy, in a slow pase, if we devide the work it'll be easier.
I'll have to pass this through the project leader and start looking for that person, I think it'll be tough finding someone like that...

Well, now that I've finished the document I'm going to start testing the Yake Engine, see what cool things I can do with it, back to work...

First Post...

Hello to all readers...

This is my first post in my Blog, I just wanted to say something about this blog and myself...

I called this blog "Game Developer in The Works" since this what I consider myself to be at this point in my life...
Recently I've graduated from University and got my B.Sc. in Computer Science, and I didn't know what to do next.
Up until that point, my life was pretty planned out, "go to school, got to university, get a job" and now I actually had to think about what I'm going to do with my life...
Well, I decided to merge my interest in video games and my profession and decided to become a game programmer...
As I found out becoming a game programmer is harder than I thought, especially due to the fact that I live in a country where games are just not developed, that's a problem right there...

But I decided not to give up on my goal, so now I'm working at a full time job as a programmer in a mainstream company, gaining experience and cash, hopefully I will eventually
have enough knowledge and cash to move to a place where I can pursue this goal...

Meanwhile, I'm not just sitting around waiting for the game industry to come up to me and ask me to join them, I'm trying to do the best I can from where I'm at...
I've recently joined an Indie-Game development company named FarFallen, I'm a Lead Programmer in that company and I hope to learn as much as I can while I wait for my opportunity...

So this blog will follow me in my attempt in making it as a Game Developer, it will also serve as an inside look into my side in the development of FarFallen (without disclosing any inside info of course :) )

I hope that some readers will stay along for the ride...