David Saltares

David Saltares

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Home page: http://siondream.com

Posts by David Saltares

I just got hired by Crytek UK!

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13 hours ago
by David Saltares in ,

I can finally say it out loud: I just got hired by Crytek UK as a junior programmer! In case you were wondering, yes, they are the same guys that pulled the Crysis saga together using their jaw dropping CryEngine, and now they’re working on games like Homefront 2. Their British studio is based in Nottingham, so I moved here a couple of days ago and I really like the city so far.

Nottingham Lace Market Square - Is nice isn't it?

This is, without any doubts, a dream job and I couldn’t be happier about it, it’s what I’ve been aiming for since I started University. I couldn’t possibly have predicted this would happen a few months ago. Maybe a little mobile games company crossed my mind, but a huge triple A company like Crytek? No way. As you can see, the office is quite amazing and the people here are most thoughtful and friendly.

Crytek office building

I’d like to thank everyone who’s helped me from professors to team mates without forgetting about family and friends. A new life full of changes and exciting experiences lies ahead! I’ll try to update the blog as often as I can. Of course I’ll post personal games reviews, game design and games programming articles.

Recent projects and future changes

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3 weeks ago
by David Saltares in , ,

Lots of stuff has happened since I last posted something here. Crazy Eramus life, you want to do everything: projects, social life, studying… So, logically, the blog has been a little bit left behind. I just wanted to post a quick update about the two university projects I’ve been working on recently:

  • Laterdroid: Read it Later client for Android created using the official SDK.
  • Urban Race: time attack racing game developed using C# and the XNA framework.

For further information please go to each project’s page, you’ll find a more detailed description, screenshots, videos and download links. I was thinking of making both projects open source and upload them to a Google Code repository but I guess that’ll have to wait until they’re graded by the professors.

And now for something completely different…

Huge events have taken place recently, the dream has come true. Unfortunately, I can’t make anything public yet, I’ve only told my family and friends. However, I’ll soon post something on that matter.

Getting started with XNA: Urban Race

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2 months ago
by David Saltares in

As if I didn’t have enough work, I recently started another project which has an early deadline. For the Advanced Games Programming module here at Kingston University we have to develop a game for Windows and Xbox 360 using C# and the XNA framework. The final deadline was in a month counting from the start date and, halfway through the development, we had to show a demo. That’s how Urban Race began just a week ago, in this post I’ll talk about the game and my first impressions on XNA.

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Official open source PlayStation Move library

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2 months ago
by David Saltares in

Just a quick update: Sony has released moveme, an official and open source PlayStation Move API that enables developers to create Windows and Linux applications controlled using Sony’s famous wand. You can read more about the library in the following paragraphs.

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Flocking behavior demo

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2 months ago
by David Saltares in

I’ve just finished this simple flocking behavior demo based on the 3 Reynolds rules: separation, cohesion and alignment. It was part of a coursework for the Strategy & Intelligent Games module I’m taking here in Kingston University. I know it’s not precisely pretty but at least the boids are moving in a nice way. It’s written in C++ using the despicable Open Scene Graph library (such an uncomfortable API).

Features:

  • 3 Reynolds rules: separation, cohesion and alignment.
  • Collision avoidance.
  • User interaction: dynamic mouse seeking or avoidance.
  • Steering behaviors blending.
  • Configurable parameters using an XML options file.

Most of the algorithms have been extracted from the Artificial Intelligence for Games book written by Ian Millington and John Funge. If you’re interested in the topic it’s totally a must read, I strongly recommend it.

Evolve: submitted prototype

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2 months ago
by David Saltares in

I’ve been working quite hard in Evolve, the PSP First Person Shooter prototype I’m developing for the Advanced Games Programming module here at Kingston University. The submission deadline is getting dangerously closer and I’ve had to crunch a little bit to get the basic features I wanted to include and be able to write a report on the game. In the following lines I’ll give my impressions on the development and at the bottom you’ll find a doubtful quality trailer.

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Evolve: early stage demo

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2 months ago
by David Saltares in

Yesterday I had an in class demo at university of my PSP First Person Shooter prototype, Evolve. The professor was impressed with the software engineering behind the system so, apparently, it went quite well although the project is in a very early stage of development. As always, I was in the games lab (it’s becoming my second home), so I recorded a video of the demo to keep track of the process.

“Shiny PC graphics in Battlefield 3″

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2 months ago
by David Saltares in ,

Just a quick update, you really should spend a few minutes watching this presentation. Johan Andersson, Rendering architech at DICE, gave a talk called “Shiny PC graphics in Battlefield 3” during the last nVidia GeForce LAN. It’s focused on the latest improvements the Frostbite 2 engine includes and I think it’s a pretty good example of where the graphics technology is going.

Click on more to see the videos.

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Evolve: PSP project

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3 months ago
by David Saltares in

I’m developing a first person shooter for PSP using the official and super confidential SDK for the Advanced Games Programming module. The deadline is settled in the middle of the semester, so that roughly gives me a couple of months which means a lot of hard work lies ahead, taking into account that it’s a completely new technology for me. The baby’s still a fetus, so in this post I’ll explain what am I trying to do and show some first screens.

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InKUbator project started!

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3 months ago
by David Saltares in

Life in Kingston goes on and it’s time to get some work done. Hope Caton, who was the plot writer in Tomb Raider IV and currently works as a teacher here at Kingston University, is organizing InKUbator. It’s a extra-curricular activity in which students can team up with the only goal of developing a great game. More on that in the following paragraphs.

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