Sharky's Blog » XNA

Sharky — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:13:32 +0000

I haven’t been blogging much lately, but have done a few on Twitter lately. I have been super busy on “MiG Madness” and it’s coming along beautifully. Still aiming to publish on Xbox Live Indie Games before the end of the year. Plus plans for a Windows Phone version naturally!

So just a reminder. Best place to follow my progress right now is on Twitter over here http://twitter.com/sharkyNZ

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 202 user reviews.

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Sharky — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 01:56:20 +0000

Luke Schneider of the one-man Indie game studio Radiangames has been interviewed by Gamasutra over here.

Check out…

“In-Depth: Radiangames On Finding Success in $1 Increments”.

A great read, and inspiring for other one-man studios such as mine.

IMHO, Radiangames produce some of the coolest, most polished Indie games on the Marketplace. Good work!

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 231 user reviews.

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Sharky — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:50:58 +0000

Quick post while I munch breakfast.. So what’s game #2 all about?

I’m happy to announce “Air Legends – MiG Madness”. Still a work in progress, getting pretty polished. My aim is to launch as soon as possible but pre-christmas 2010.

What is MiG Madness?…

for the Xbox 360. Coming soon to Xbox Live Indie Games.
JET aircraft dogfighting from the Korean War era.
1-4 player co-op (local) on the same screen
Survive waves of increasingly difficult enemy
Rescue system for dead players
Exploded enemies drop their loot. i.e. rockets, health, etc…
Threat indicator
3D Audio
Day-Night-Cycle

Enough talk, check out the 1st teaser vid…

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 220 user reviews.

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Sharky — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:31:21 +0000

Lately me and fellow XNAer, and good buddy Jeff of 1am Studios have been doing gamedev nights after work. Even though we’re working on our own very different game projects, it’s a fantastic way to keep the motivation up. In fact, I fully credit these nights for getting my Game #2 anywhere close to where it is now. And getting me back into the gamedev “ZONE”.

Before then the most I was managing was a couple of hours a week of gamedev.

That’s to be expected with gamedev being my hobby, not my regular day job.

It’s also a perfect excuse to feast on Pizza, music, and movies – comedies work best.

Anyway, I highly recommend it, if you know other XNAers in your area.

Speaking of Jeff. He’s been bringing new life into classic old games using XNA. Check out his latest project is a Carmageddon remake here. (before that he also did Need For Speed in XNA)

I made great Game #2 progress last night too:

the Threat Indicator is all polished now and working wonderfully – very happy with it
more annoying bugs squished
and refactorings a plenty

And lastly, I’m finally on Twitter. Not sure if that’s a good thing yet. My blogs posts have been pretty short lately, so thought I might give it a whirl.

You can follow my ramblings here…

http://twitter.com/sharkyNZ

until next time, cya

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 300 user reviews.

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Sharky — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:21:51 +0000

Air Legends had mono sound, so any hint of where the enemy was coming from was suggested by skewing the camera slightly. I’m also a fan of games with minimal HUD. Where more natural cues suggest how damaged you are, where the enemy is. (the Peter Jackson’s King Kong game is a good example of this)

Many asked for a Radar, or Mini-map. A great idea – but I really wanted see if the minimal HUD thing could really work, and stick to situational awareness appropriate for pilots in WWII. Back then radar helped dispatch squads in the general vicinity of the enemy, but once in the air the pilots were largely on their own.

Game #2 will be similar, but with 3D audio which will help immensely, but…

your enemies will attack in waves – lethal, more types of waves to come
…so, I’ve added a Threat indicator for approximate direction to the target, but not too precise to ruin the challenge – DONE, applying polish!!!

Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 294 user reviews.

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Sharky — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:39:58 +0000

In Air Legends rockets were earned with scoring streaks of bullet hits. For Game #2 it’s more about the death and destruction now…

Exploded enemies drop their remaining Ammo – loot! – DONE, applying polish!!!
You can pick up said loot! – DONE!!!
tweaked player/enemy engine volumes for better 3D audio – IMPROVED, ongoing.
stomped a few bugs – definitely ongoing!!!

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 295 user reviews.

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Sharky — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:24:42 +0000

I never was a big fan of Splitscreen, so Game #2 has…

1-4 player coop on the same screen – IMPLEMENTED, tweaks ongoing!!!
3D Audio!!! (not really possible with splitscreen) – COMPLETE!!!

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 279 user reviews.

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Sharky — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:13:57 +0000

I got my coding face on again at last…

Game #2 well under way – full steam ahead.

Day-Night-Cycle – COMPLETE!!!

Very happy.

So can’t wait to unveil what it is exactly, but for now all you get is tasty morsels.

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 197 user reviews.

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Sharky — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:47:33 +0000

11 months after launch, “Air Legends” has now been downloaded over 100 thousand times from the Xbox Indie games Marketplace!

That’s downloads, NOT sales. If I’d got 100000 sales I’d quit my day job right now!

Air Legends is currently available for 80 MS Points ($1 USD) on the Indie games Marketplace. Look for it on the Dashboard or Web marketplace here

p.s. and don’t forget to Rate it!

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 212 user reviews.

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Sharky — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:13:07 +0000

“Air Legends” has been a big success for me since it launched in Jan 2009. Now with game #2 under way (and feeling great), it just feels right to give a little back.

So I’ve reduced the price to 80 Microsoft Points. That’s $1 USD folks.

enjoy it
rate it
tell all ya mates!

I’d also like to remind you that in May 2009 the game was Updated with significant gameplay improvements.
Be sure to give it another try, and please do Rate it either on the Dashboard or the web marketplace.

Cheers all!

Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 230 user reviews.

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