Website Update: Atomz

A new section has been added to the website: 24Hour Games

The 24H Games project is an experiment in gameplay design and developement. Its main objective is the creation of simple web-based games in a single day. Each of the games presented here has been built by a single developer (that is, me ^-^) in just 24 hours. Each game is presented along with its developement log, describing the various steps in the creation of the games, things that worked and things that didn't.

The first published game is called Atomz. In this puzzle game the player links moving symbols (thr atomz) by matching shape or color, before they go out of the screen. Linked atomz switch their state, linking them in a smart way to create bigger molecules increases the score. Enter the 24Hour Games project page to play the game and read the developement log!

Read More

Website Update

New section added. Its about a CodeProject article I wrote several years ago, titled Fast late-bound invocation through Dynamic Method delegates:

Reflection is a feature that allows a program to find out type (and metadata) information about objects at run-time. The use of Reflection, however, comes with a price. While some of its functions are pretty fast, some others, like late-bound invocation routines, are costly and if not used wisely could result in a major bottleneck inside your application. This article discusses a way to obtain fast late-bound invocation inside the .Net framework, by obtaining a method handle through the common Reflection services, and then emiting MSIL code to patch up a static call site for the method.

Read More

Compiling DSDoom

The port of Doom on the Nintendo DS was an amazing project. I used to play the original game quite a lot, and being able to run it again on my DS is like going back in time :)

Even if the game is pretty much running as it is, the project does not seem to be under active developement anymore.

Since I wanted to learn a little bit more about NDS programming I decided to try and compile DSDoom from source. The devkitPro toolchain contains everything needed to start homebrew developement on the DS.

Since the DSDoom code was last revised in 2007, the source won’t compile anymore with the latest devKitPro release (r23). I managed to have the code compile and run again even though sound and wireless are not working right now. I planned to do some fancy stuff with this game but I soon realized I won’t have time for it, so I decided I was satisfied enough in having it compiling right :)

Donwload DSDoom sources for devKitPro r23 here.

Read More

Edanarion Milestone 7 Preview

I plan to reopen the edanarion server in a couple of weeks. Some big changes since the first online test, expecially in the graphics department.

See some other screenshots HERE

Read More

Usability in Games

New project added on the website: Usability in Games.

We are investigating how interface usability influences user engagement in long-term computer games, and working to assess the relevance of usability versus playability factors on the overall experience engagement. A preliminary paper on this topic has been accepted at the Engagement By Design workshop, which is part of the CHI09 conference on Human-Computer Interaction. The conference and workshops will be held in Boston, April 4-9 2009.

Read More