Some friends of mine from the old Husky Games days have moved to Austin and have opened up their own studio for casual games. It is listed now on the IDGA site for Austin based studios and they have released their first title on Facebook. You can check them out HERE.
Sean, Ryan, good luck with your studio. If you make it big, hire me :)
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Game Review - Resident Evil 5 : PS3 : Capcom
Resident Evil 5... where to begin. First off, I have not beaten the whole thing yet. I plan on it tomorrow. Currently I am on Chapter 6-1. I realize this is close to the end but I had plans tonight that didn't include being home near my PS3. Regardless, I have played enough to have an honest opinion of the game...
Seeing as I've played every other Resident Evil game out there, it was a given that I would pick up the latest installment. Now it's true, I am a tool and bought the collectors edition for an additional 30 dollars. Why you ask, you would have just as good an answer as myself. However it did come with a nifty metal case and some crap I will never use (Patch for BSAA, a figurine of Chris, a medallion of Africa, and a crappy thin, cheaply made, tote bag that is way too small for me to carry.
Now I expected the game to be an action game, seeing as that is the direction that RE4 took. I thought RE4 was a good game but not really worthy of the Resident Evil title, as they changed the genre so much. It saddens me to say that RE5 makes RE4 look like a classic. They have totally reworked game play, all but gotten rid of the challenging puzzles of the original, and made the game chapter base that forces you to run from point A, to point B, killing hordes of annoying enemies with highly delayed AI systems and way too much health to balance out the game.
It may be the case that I am too much the hardcore fan of the originals. It may be that I'm just jaded on the newest games that are out, because very few have failed to meet my expectation of "Next Generation" gaming. However, I am greatly saddened when a company the size of Capcom is not willing to stick to its grassroots and take a chance or releasing a game in a well known franchise that is more unique yet risky. Most of this I feel is due to the cost of production of modern day games. It is a better risk for the company if they do something already done than attempt to push their own market IP. It is just my fear that all games will eventually merge into the same rehashed concept that is marketed by large scale developers.
On the otherhand, it makes me glad to see a large scale company move the way of the standard first/third shooter, it opens up room for us little guys.
Later
Seeing as I've played every other Resident Evil game out there, it was a given that I would pick up the latest installment. Now it's true, I am a tool and bought the collectors edition for an additional 30 dollars. Why you ask, you would have just as good an answer as myself. However it did come with a nifty metal case and some crap I will never use (Patch for BSAA, a figurine of Chris, a medallion of Africa, and a crappy thin, cheaply made, tote bag that is way too small for me to carry.
Now I expected the game to be an action game, seeing as that is the direction that RE4 took. I thought RE4 was a good game but not really worthy of the Resident Evil title, as they changed the genre so much. It saddens me to say that RE5 makes RE4 look like a classic. They have totally reworked game play, all but gotten rid of the challenging puzzles of the original, and made the game chapter base that forces you to run from point A, to point B, killing hordes of annoying enemies with highly delayed AI systems and way too much health to balance out the game.
It may be the case that I am too much the hardcore fan of the originals. It may be that I'm just jaded on the newest games that are out, because very few have failed to meet my expectation of "Next Generation" gaming. However, I am greatly saddened when a company the size of Capcom is not willing to stick to its grassroots and take a chance or releasing a game in a well known franchise that is more unique yet risky. Most of this I feel is due to the cost of production of modern day games. It is a better risk for the company if they do something already done than attempt to push their own market IP. It is just my fear that all games will eventually merge into the same rehashed concept that is marketed by large scale developers.
On the otherhand, it makes me glad to see a large scale company move the way of the standard first/third shooter, it opens up room for us little guys.
Later
A Comment on Standards
Hi All,
It's been a while since I posted, but I have an interesting little tid big that I ran into today. Apparently some standards state that you should always define your null checking logic as follows:
if ( null == var )
{
// do whatever
}
instead of:
if ( var == null )
{
// do whatever
}
Apparently the reason for this is that it will always avoid a dreaded assignment error causing a null pointer in your application. I.E.:
if ( var = null )
{
// This will do bad things to your code.
}
It avoids them because the compiler will not allow you to assign a value to null where as you can assign null to a variable. This same logic holds true for any constant. I.E.:
if ( 1 == var )
{
// do something spiffy
}
as well as any variable declared as a const, and enumerated values as well, since these are converted by the compiler to be a constant. However, I plan on still doing things the old fashion way, as bad habits are hard to break. I just thought it was an interesting idea and thought I would share.
Later.
It's been a while since I posted, but I have an interesting little tid big that I ran into today. Apparently some standards state that you should always define your null checking logic as follows:
if ( null == var )
{
// do whatever
}
instead of:
if ( var == null )
{
// do whatever
}
Apparently the reason for this is that it will always avoid a dreaded assignment error causing a null pointer in your application. I.E.:
if ( var = null )
{
// This will do bad things to your code.
}
It avoids them because the compiler will not allow you to assign a value to null where as you can assign null to a variable. This same logic holds true for any constant. I.E.:
if ( 1 == var )
{
// do something spiffy
}
as well as any variable declared as a const, and enumerated values as well, since these are converted by the compiler to be a constant. However, I plan on still doing things the old fashion way, as bad habits are hard to break. I just thought it was an interesting idea and thought I would share.
Later.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
VocabTrainer Redistribution
Hi all,
For some reason drop.io dropped my VocabTrainer download site (mind the pun, sorry). Anywho... since I cant seem to remember the password. Here is an updated drop.
I don't have all the vocab lists that I had originally, but I did quick make one for Japanese numbers 1-10. If any of you have any really good ones that you might want to add, feel free to email me them and I will add them to the drop.
Thanks for those who have emailed me to let me know that it was down, both for the update and for your interest in my software. Let me know if there are any improvements that you would like to see as well. I don't have a problem updating my software for my peeps!.
For some reason drop.io dropped my VocabTrainer download site (mind the pun, sorry). Anywho... since I cant seem to remember the password. Here is an updated drop.
I don't have all the vocab lists that I had originally, but I did quick make one for Japanese numbers 1-10. If any of you have any really good ones that you might want to add, feel free to email me them and I will add them to the drop.
Thanks for those who have emailed me to let me know that it was down, both for the update and for your interest in my software. Let me know if there are any improvements that you would like to see as well. I don't have a problem updating my software for my peeps!.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Japanese Clock - Long Time No Post
Two reasons for posting today, one - it's been a while. I think this has been mostly due to work and the holidays. Although, I must blame some of it on my lack of interest in game development. Not so much in a lack of wanting to better myself in the field, but more a lack of wanting to learn... It is a weird feeling to be stuck on a development team where you don't feel like you are wanted, or even worse, feel like your talents are being wasted.
Beyond that, however, I have decided to get back on the boat and I have decided to output some simple apps to get me back in the swing of things. This one is kinda stupid but fun at the same time. I was playing around with rotating sprites in the NDS PALIB development homebrew environment. So here it is: JapClock App by DKCHRIS... Yay...
Download here
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Update
Hello world...
Ah the great line of any good first application in a new language or with a new API. I have written you so many times I can not even begin to count. The truth is though is that you are boring, so much in fact that I despise your presence. I want more, I want to create and to develop something beautiful and imaginative.
Thus leads me here, an update on my progress into the world of NDS homebrew and my side scroller game. Actually, progress is going well. I have the basics of an engine now and I will be working on incorporating my own art soon (hopefully this weekend ill get something visible I can post screen shots of). The PALib library is very versatile and easy to work with and I believe it will make a game like mine extremely easy to develop. More updates on this soon.
As far as school goes, I am dropping out of grad school for sure. It really has been a waste of my time. The classes for an MBA are completely useless unless you have great plans of being a manager and I don't think I could handle not working with code every day. I am not a bean counter, bottom line... So anyways, this is my last week of class (lots of busy work - including a take home final exam that weighs about 10 lbs.). I am hoping that finishing off the class and going back to a normal life will give me more time to work on my game. We will see...
Thats all for now, check back soon for more info. Oh I almost forgot, I have put together a little puzzle game for the NDS, it is almost done, I will try to put that up tomorrow.
Ah the great line of any good first application in a new language or with a new API. I have written you so many times I can not even begin to count. The truth is though is that you are boring, so much in fact that I despise your presence. I want more, I want to create and to develop something beautiful and imaginative.
Thus leads me here, an update on my progress into the world of NDS homebrew and my side scroller game. Actually, progress is going well. I have the basics of an engine now and I will be working on incorporating my own art soon (hopefully this weekend ill get something visible I can post screen shots of). The PALib library is very versatile and easy to work with and I believe it will make a game like mine extremely easy to develop. More updates on this soon.
As far as school goes, I am dropping out of grad school for sure. It really has been a waste of my time. The classes for an MBA are completely useless unless you have great plans of being a manager and I don't think I could handle not working with code every day. I am not a bean counter, bottom line... So anyways, this is my last week of class (lots of busy work - including a take home final exam that weighs about 10 lbs.). I am hoping that finishing off the class and going back to a normal life will give me more time to work on my game. We will see...
Thats all for now, check back soon for more info. Oh I almost forgot, I have put together a little puzzle game for the NDS, it is almost done, I will try to put that up tomorrow.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Download - NDS : Helicopter 1.0
Retro gaming time again here at DKGameStudios. This time with another classic remake, Helicopter. Guide your heli through the treacherous cavern full of ominous green rocks... why are the rock always green???? You know every version of this game I have ever seen, the rocks are green. Well, got to stick with tradition on this one as it made collision detection super easy.
Here is a screenshot:
Features:
Get the download here
On a side note, I have been working on some new stuff using PALib so don't expect to see anymore crappy raster ports of old games unless I am really bored, or you're really nice and ask for one specifically. Either case, it probably won't be a raster port unless it would take me less time.
I am however still considering adding some fatlib stuff to this so as to save highscores after power down. Ill keep you all posted.
Here is a screenshot:
Features:- Includes original style game, press A to make your Helicopter climb, release to let gravity do its thing.
- If you hit a wall, floor or ceiling, it's lights out for you...
Get the download here
On a side note, I have been working on some new stuff using PALib so don't expect to see anymore crappy raster ports of old games unless I am really bored, or you're really nice and ask for one specifically. Either case, it probably won't be a raster port unless it would take me less time.
I am however still considering adding some fatlib stuff to this so as to save highscores after power down. Ill keep you all posted.
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