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.

• 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.

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.

Pitching Urban Race

Urban Race is a time attack racing game set in several tracks within a city environment. The player has to drive through the track collecting time bonuses so he can reach the goal before the time expires.

The controls are extremely simple: using the arrow keys you can accelerate, brake and steer the car. I haven’t though about the controls in Xbox 360 yet but they’ll be similar to those in every racing game in that console.

Urban Race prototype ingame screenshot

XNA first impressions

It’s really easy to criticize everything M$ does but I have to admit that XNA is a fine games development framework and it’s specially well integrated within Visual Studio. 7 days ago I didn’t know anything about C# (although I knew Java and C++) nor XNA itself and I’ve managed to get lots of stuff done: game objects model, Blender level loading, collision detection and basic response, games states management, etc.

Speaking of framework specific matters, I have to say that the API is very friendly although it lacks some essential features. It would be nice if it had scene graph management, dynamic shadows or a proper animation module. All of that seems quite essential for a high level games development framework but it’s not built in. Apart from that, it’s surprisingly easy how much you can achieve in so little time with, initially, a total lack of knowledge.

However, I’m fairly happy with it and its integration with Visual Studio. I’m not talking only about the excellent auto-complete or syntax checking features but the content pipeline management. Every game asset is controlled by Visual Studio, being the IDE responsible of binary exporting and reference checking. When you run your game it tells you which non existing asset are you trying to load. At first, relying on Visual Studio being in control of your assets might be a little uncomfortable and dangerous (and it is) but in the end it’s been a good thing for me.

Blender level creation

Tools for the trade

Here is a list of tools I’ve been using to create my game:

• Visual Studio: IDE (the only option in this case).
• Blender: open source 3D modelling, texturing and animation tool. I’ve used it as my level editor as well exporting to the Dotscene xml format.
• The Gimp: open source 2D graphic tool that I’ve used for texturing my models.
• Inkscape: open source 2D vector tool which I’ve used to design my track’s pieces since they needed to be geometrically exact so they could fit together.
• Fraps: recording my game running.

Video after 7 days of work

I created a video showing the development progress in Urban Race after 7 days of work. You can see the crappy physics and camera behavior (none of those are final) among other features such as level loading or collision detection.

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.

They have published a C/C++ version and a C# one. Within the Google Code repository you can find the sources for all the versions, some sample programs and a brief but accessible documentation. This small API provides functions to connect with several PlayStation Move controllers; to get the wand’s info such as position, orientation or button presses and even to manage rumble effects. It looks like Sony has published the library the proper way.

It’s surprising that such a secretive company like Sony publishes a library to work with their proprietary controller. However, given the unofficial Kinect SDK situation, it’s certainly more desirable providing your own version before the unofficial one comes around. Furthermore, no one can deny that Kinect SDK has given Microsoft’s device more popularity across the Net.

It’s a pity that I don’t own one of these controllers. Otherwise I could maybe create a Move compatible version of Sion Tower. Who knows?

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.

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.

The game looks awful, has several known bugs and needs some performance tweaks. However, note that I’ve only had a month and a half of development time. Furthermore, the whole PSP official SDK was completely new to me and I’ve had to divide my time between coding and creating the assets (the cute dog enemy was pre-made).

Nevertheless, the system is fairly extensible. One of the things I’m proud of is the Blender level exporting which works fairly well. Only a couple features were requisites for passing the coursework and many more have been implemented, so it’s been a positive exercise. I’ve learned lots of things about developing for small devices and time management. You can watch the lame video just below this.

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.

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.

The concept

Extracted from the game proposal document:

The player controls a regular human who is the subject of a series of experiments against his will. These experiments take place in a secret military lab. The scientists make him fight against some sort of supernatural creatures in a indoor facility.

The scientists are experimenting on a special drug that accelerates the mutation process from generation to generation, this is: evolution. That means that different sets of creatures will have different properties and will evolve depending on the player performance achieving a strong variety of situations. Genetic algorithms will be used to simulate the evolution effect.

The player will have to survive killing all the creatures encountered in the different rooms of the facility using a simple gun provided by the scientists.

Provisional game controls

Work in progress

After a lot of work and debugging, which is considerably harder in a console system, I have managed to get my level loading system working. It’s now possible to design levels in Blender and export them so my engine can load them in running time. The approach is similar to what I already did in Sion Tower. This is great because it boosts the design workflow, note that it’s not necessary anymore to build the project each time you make a little change in a certain level.

Designing a level in Blender

The pictures above and below illustrates the level creation process. Not having enough time to create the assets and being working with a limited device is going to result in simple and modest graphics but I hope the outcome will be satisfactory. Of course, this is a huge excuse for being a crappy artist!

Render of a provisional level in Evolve

To test the game it’s necessary to be in the games lab, where they have the PSPs development version consoles. The facility is great, the only problem is that sometimes it gets rather noisy… As you can see in the picture I’ve managed to load a level designed in Blender but without textures, unfortunately I’m struggling again with 3D format exporting, what a nightmare!

Testing in the games lab

I’ll keep you posted about the development process fellow readers!

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.

InKUbator comes with extra sweetness since guest speakers from the games industry are coming. If this wasn’t enough, students who join InKUbator might get free tickets for industry conferences in BAFTA. It’s all about boosting our portfolios, making connections, working as a team, getting to know the market, challenging our abilities and testing our creativity.

We gather weekly and, although it’s been roughly two weeks, I’m already excited about the direction my project is taking. It’s too soon to talk what we’re working on, however I promise I’ll post details about it as soon as possible. I’m really focused in making the most of this experience, which I couldn’t have access to if I wasn’t in the UK as an Erasmus student.