game-development

Performance and background images for OpenGL ES/iPhone

I'm developing a 2D game for the iPhone using OpenGL ES and I'd like to use a 320x480 bitmapped image as a persistent background. My first thought was to create a 320x480 quad and then map a texture onto it that represents the background. So... I created a 512x512 texture with a 320x480 image on it. Then I mapped that to the 320x480 qu...

What Type of Random Number Generator is Used in the Gaming Industry?

Given the extremely high requirements for unpredictability to prevent casinos from going bankrupt, what random number generation algorithm and seeding scheme is typically used in devices like slot machines, video poker machines, etc.? EDIT: Related questions: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/203382/do-stateless-random-number-generat...

Best design pattern for complex silverlight games

What patterns do you think are best for silverlight games? Some main areas of focus are game performance, maximum number of objects reasonably updated in real time, ease of development and testing. ...

Algorithms for Simulating Fluid Flow

I've got a game idea that requires some semi-realistic simulation of a fluid flowing around various objects. Think of a pool of mercury on an irregular surface that is being tilted in various directions. This is for a game, so 100% physical realism is not necessary. What is most important is that the calculations can be done in real t...

How can I programmatically read server logs from HLDS?

How does one go about reading and parsing server logs sent remotely from HLDS (Half-Life Dedicated Server)? My understanding is that you can specify where the server delivers logs using the command log_address. After this, the server is supposed to deliver the logs via UDP. How can I go about listening for these logs with either PHP o...

What was your first computer game that got you interested in computers?

My first experience with a game that got me interested in computers (still programming): Leisure Suit Larry After "Ken sent me", I was hooked. Leisure Suit Larry creator's site: Al Lowe ...

How should I start designing an AI algorithm for an artillery warfare game?

Here's the background... in my free time I'm designing an artillery warfare game called Staker (inspired by the old BASIC games Tank Wars and Scorched Earth) and I'm programming it in MATLAB. Your first thought might be "Why MATLAB? There are plenty of other languages/software packages that are better for game design." And you would be r...

What commercial games have been written with pyGame?

I'm curious to know what commercial games, if any, have been written with pyGame. The scale doesn't matter much, it doesn't have to be a massive success, but it should be significant that more than 2 people have ever heard of it. I ask this because nearly everything I saw on the pyGame website seemed fairly underwhelming. I understand...

How to save and load a text mode game

I went in late in a project of gamedev of a simple text game in C++.I studied the project and I think I know how to do everything but i get stuck on a thing:how to save and load the game as proposed.I don't want to have the thing done for me,only you show me a way to do it. ...

What are the worst problems in game design?

As a developer and gamer, I usually get bored with some problems of designed games. Here is my list: 1) Games that cannot be paused; 2) Games without sound volume control; 3) Games with long opening videos but without a feature to skip the video (especially on RPGs); 4) Long games without "save states"; 5) Games without key customizatio...

Collisions between game objects and the floor with regards to gravity?

How do games with gravity handle the relationship between moving things like players, monsters, or objects and the floor? Is the player constantly "falling into" the floor and being bounced back up? Two ways to react to collisions that I have found are moving the player back to his previous location before the collision, and testing ...

What's the best way to get started in modern game programming and application programming?

I want to get started game programming in C/C++, or C# with DirectX or OpenGL. I'm not really sure what I want to get started, but a smallish project like a simple engine would be nice to get started with. Additionally, I would like to learn about designing applications in Windows with C#, .NET 3.5, and WPF. Utilizing C# and .NET, I inte...

Getting started with a 2d online game

I've plotted out the basic game idea outline, but rather than make another mod of some other game, I want to dip my toes into the waters of stand-alone game development at long last. This will likely be an RPG-style, top-down online multiplayer versus game with elements of puzzle solving, cat and mouse mind games, and even some shooter ...

How can I get into game design coming from a C and Java background?

I have done some C and Java programming but I'm really interested in graphics/game design. What do I need to do in order to pursue this further? If you can share any information with me it would be appreciated! ...

Pacman in Java questions

For my university assignment I have to make a networkable version of pacman. I thought I would best approach this problem with making a local copy of pacman first and then extend this functionality for network play. I would have to say that I am relatively new to java GUI development and utilizing such features within java. http://ww...

How do emulators work and how are they written?

How do emulators work? When I see NES / SNES or C64 emulators, it astounds me. Do you have to emulate the processor of those machines by interpreting its particular assembly instructions? What else goes into it? How are they typically designed? Can you give any advice for someone interested in writing an emulator (particularly a ga...

MMORPG protocol encryption

Anyone know what the trend is with MMORPG developers encryption their client/server protocols these days? The pro's and con's are as follows. Encrypting protocol: protects trade secrets regarding client/server protocol to a degree? Botting isn't stopped, it is only changed because people will create bots which read screen states and ...

About mobile game porting

Hello I would like to ask a few questions regarding mobile game porting... Let say if I have a simple 2D C++ game engine and have a PC game based on that engine and I want to port it to different mobile platforms BREW, J2ME, iPhone, Android, Symbian, etc.. Do I need to re-code the engine and the game for each platform? or is there an ...

Writing a simple "Rock Paper Scissors" game bot

I need help with a python game im working on (I just started learning Python about 3 days ago, so I'm still a nOob =) This is what I came up with: import random from time import sleep print "Please select: " print "1 Rock" print "2 Paper" print "3 Scissors" player = input ("Choose from 1-3: ") if player == 1: print "...

How to restructure this code hierarchy (relating to the Law of Demeter)

I've got a game engine where I'm splitting off the physics simulation from the game object functionality. So I've got a pure virtual class for a physical body class Body from which I'll be deriving various implementations of a physics simulation. My game object class then looks like class GameObject { public: // ... private: B...