Archive for April, 2009

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Hi all.

Many people visit this blog for my 3D model collision detection tutorial. It’s nice to know it’s still in demand!
I did it way back in the XNA v1.0 days (I think), so people are possibly having a bit of grief getting it working with XNA 2.0 & now 3.0.

So, I’ve finally updated the sample to work with XNA 3.0, and improved it considerably.

Head over here to get the updated sample.

IMPORTANT: The actual tutorials have not been updated to reflect this XNA v3.0 version and refactoring.

The main sample changes are these:

  • updated for XNA v3.0
  • refactored to make it easier to include your own models and textures
  • refactored so that the subdividing info is now contained in handy XML files
Plane in BoundingBox
Plane in BoundingBox

Working Sample

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 159 user reviews.

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

G’day.

There’s a new interview of me talking about Air Legends, it’s development, Bionic Shark Studios, sales/pricing, and other stuff at ExL Studios.

Check it out here.

While you’re there check out their site. Besides Developer interviews, they will also be reviewing Community Games! (an Air Legends review will be coming once my Update is complete.)

It’s great to see the community really gearing up, with several Community Games/XNA sites sprouting up lately. (apologies if I missed any – it’s quite hard to keep up, so do let me know!)

While I’m at it, if you’re a fan of Air Legends, get over to http://xblcg.info and rate Air Legends for me.
…and if you’re not so much – well, perhaps hang on and try my coming-soon Update before making your judgment. ;)

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 167 user reviews.

Saturday, April 25th, 2009

Hi folks.

Once again I’ve been quiet on the blogging front, but feverishly busy in every other way.

An Update to Air Legends is coming very soon!

I think it will please many, so do read on.

Firstly, I should point out that Microsoft encourage Community Games developers to keep Updates to bug fixes – not features. (I think this is absolutely fair enough too, but I won’t delve into why here.)

In saying that, my update is not so much bug fixes, as addressing a common complaint that must surely be reducing the game’s appeal. So I reckon I’m justified in doing so, even if you could argue the changes are “features”. The core game features are unchanged.

Air Legends has been proving very popular on the marketplace. While it’s clear people are appreciating it, I’ve seen something of a common complaint in good, but not great, Reviews of the game. These boil down to:

  • planes too slow, or turn too slow
  • not everyone appreciates the dogfighting (chase and maneuver, earn the kill) focus of the current game. It seems some would like less chase & more kill, kill, kill
  • some also appear to miss vital controls (like a throttle!), or misunderstand their usage

My update will address these both:

  • new game “Speed” option of Normal, Speedy or MANIC. These will effect the aircraft speed, acceleration, turn rate & increase bullet damage noticably. MANIC in particular should appeal to the more “twitch” gamer types. While Normal is the status quo.
  • New “Flight School” mode for learning and practising the Controls. This is basically a free flight mode with interactive instruction, hints and tips.
  • Lastly, due to popular request I’ve added a 2 second invulnerability after respawning. Something that should always have been there, but I shelved to make my new year launch deadline.

With regards to the new Speed mode. It’s amazing how slow “Normal” mode feels after playing Speedy & MANIC. Normal mode will still be the default however – I don’t want to alienate existing happy customers!

Stay tuned. I hope to have the Update released in the next couple of weeks.

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 257 user reviews.