Game Design, Programming and running a one-man games business…

Patch 1.34 then 1.35. Ooops

Posted on February 24, 2010

So… I did patch 1.34, which had a bunch of minor stuff that was fairly urgent, and immediately everything went wrong. I’ve  moved to Windows 7 on 64 bit, and that meant a new PC, and thus nothing worked. I needed to install the Microsoft Directx sdk, which is fine, but the old version I used would not install on W7. That meant getting the new version, which took 2 days to download (grrr), but installed, so I could actually debug my games again….

But it also meant that when I recompiled the game for a patch, it got automatically tied to the latest d3dx dll, which is weird because I havent changed any graphics engine code at all. It seems Microsoft defaults to requiring the latest of everything. Cheers guys.

And here it gets annoying. Because the machines I test on all have the SDK installed, I had no idea that I was suddenly needing a new (not normally installed) DLL until I released the patch and got complaints. Eeek!. I’m 99.99% sure this is fixed now with 1.35. I couldnt get the stupid-ass directx redist installer to actually install the new files, so I just recompiled the game forcing it to use includes and libs from the older SDK.

What a pain!

In other news the ‘spot the feature’ is that missile trails are going above the ship that fired them. They never used to do that. Nobody even notices when I point it out. Bah. Also, multiple-rockets now split apart in a more convincing way now, and tons of really minor stuff is now fixed. Hurrah!

Spot The New Feature

Posted on February 23, 2010

It’s very minor. But what have I changed in this screenshot below?

I’m supposed to be finalizing the new expansion. I’ll do more work on that tomorrow, but I’ve resigned myself to one more patch before I release it. I needed more weapon variety for them, and that meant code changes to the main game. Then I suddenly got a bit manic and obsessed about improving the graphics in all ways. Hence, 2 days were wasted trying to add shadows (I tried various methods but none of them look right, not without re-rendering every existing ship and a major re-write) and then a decent bloom effect. In the end, I junked all that code, because it didn’t get me anywhere.  I’ve made 3 tiny changes today to some stuff which make the game look very slightly better. Overall, it all adds up methinks….

Back working on actual work…

Posted on February 21, 2010

So…. for the past few days I’ve been distracted by various things. The largest distraction was the arrival of my new PC. Hurrah! First one in three years. I can now check everything under Windows 7, 64 bit with ATI, which were the three missing links in my compatibility testing.

Of course installing a new PC means NOTHING works. It means working out why perforce won’t set its environment variables on Windows 7. It means remembering where the hell I put my precious Office 97 install CD (I refuse to pay money to upgrade ms office when office 97 does everything I need :D). And it means working out how to re-cable part of the house so that I can move the router into the office.

Bah.

But now it all works! and I am back in action working on actual work stuff. For the rest of today and tomorrow I will be playtesting the new GSB expansion pack. Expect screenshots shortly before release, hopefully mid-week. Everything seems bug free, it’s just a matter of play-balancing now. Phew!

Oh and I’ve been building a log store to store the wood that keeps our house less-cold:

Open letter to Ubisoft management

Posted on February 17, 2010

Hello ubisoft, how are you? It appears from this:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=235290&site=pcg

That you are making DRM in your new game (Assassins creed 2) even more inconvenient for paying customers than before. Apparently if your net connection drops slightly, you will get kicked out of the game.

This is madness. Have you not heard that DRM is actually unpopular with paying customers? As a gesture of goodwill, I offer you the most exhaustive consultation on the causes of piracy ever done.

The conclusion is that DRM == net loss in terms of sales. Maybe one day there is flawless, transparent DRM, but that day is not today, and this is not it.

I am not some pirate at slashdot or digg telling you this, but a game developer who makes his living from copyright, and who strongly, passionately, fiercely opposes and hates piracy. DRM like this does not work, and it’s silly to keep using it. Please do not do this to PC gamers.

That is all.

Gratuitous Patch Number 32!

Posted on February 16, 2010

At last I’ve released patch 32 (version 1.32) for GSB today. If all goes well, then I’ll roll that out to partners like steam over the next two days. There are many changes big and small. Here are the big ones:

1) Performance: UI performance improvement for scrolling on the challenge browser screen.
2) Performance: Differential challenge data downloading means that refreshing the challenge list is much faster now.
3) New Feature: Fleet overlay UI for the battle screen showing every ship on your fleet and it’s current status.
4) Usability: Mouse cursor now changes to the hand icon when over something clickable.
5) New Feature: Added module stat comparison window when you click any item of module data.
6) Bug Fix: Weapons will now fire at anything within range correctly, even if ordered not to attack a certain class, providing that no other suitable targets are in range.

Depending how you play the game, some of these may be irrelevant, or awesome. I really like the module stat comparison stuff. I should have done it ages ago, and the fleet overlay is handy too. People who micromanage their weapons orders to the nth degree will appreciate number 6. I always thought it was working that way, but it turns out my code is buggier than a bug breeding colony on bug island. It works in a much more sensible way now, and its more viable to build ships that mix and match anti-fighter and anti-cruiser weapons :D

The patch will auto-download over the next 24 hours for existing buyers. New buyers get a  ready-patched copy anyway.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. I forgot to mention in the readme that I beefed up some of the explosions and particle effects too. The very next thing I do will be the next expansion pack, which I’m pretty excited about. After that, it’s likely the mini-campaign.