Tag Archives: critic

Games Played 2015 Page

I have a new page up under the Reviews tab where I will be noting games I’ve played in 2015 to completion, close to, or ones worth noting in either a good or bad way. Each will be accompanied by a tiny blurb about my experience with a game. It will be my way of keeping track of games this year while also doing “reviews” of each in some way without losing interest and time in writing a huge blog about each. I hope someone besides me finds it helpful.

Book Review: Learning Unity 2D Game Development By Example

Learning Unity 2D Game Development by Example written by Venita Pereira published by Packt Publishing is quite a wonderful introduction to not only Unity itself but the new 2D game development suite it recently added. I had been meaning to checkout the 2D Unity mode myself for quite some time, and this book gave me a proper introduction.

After being a major supporter of Construct 2, mainly due to how easy it is to approach for new comers and the fully featured sprite editors, I can now easily recommend Unity as well.

Read on to find out why.

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Ubisoft Internship Post Mortem

For years I’ve been adamant about getting a job in the gaming industry for many reasons that can take up a whole essay on it’s own about why I find it so fascinating and important in media today. As a student, I became very acquainted with the recruitment process of being met with blank stares and non-responses when applying for internships at gaming companies or inquiring about them. Many for some reason are totally opposed to the idea, but others have intern systems even if they say they don’t.

From my high school senior year onward, I was on the hunt for an internship in games. As I approached my senior year of college, I felt my rope was getting really short because an internship would have been incredibly vital to my career decision in games. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a designer, programmer, IT technician or something else entirely. I wanted to use the internship opportunity to experience it first hand and base my decision off that. When all my efforts failed, I decided to go all-in on programming. It was a risk, believe it or not, for a Computer Science major like me because I still wasn’t decidedly convinced I wanted to be in this field.

After Ubisoft reached out to me, I finally got to experience some professional hands on programming with languages I truly enjoy and learn about the industry first hand. I’m not only sold on programming now, but more than ever before, games as a career too.

Prepare for a long blog. There’s over 8 months of experiences summed up.

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Book Review: Effective C++

Effective C++ by Scott Meyers has been around for awhile and it is pretty revered. With good reason. It is one of the books a lot of C++ programmers, both beginners and adept, read and then never look back after. After being recommended the book several times, I finally got around to picking it up.

Unlike a lot of other programming books, such as the ones I’ve previously reviewed, this isn’t a tutorial or “how-to” C++ book. So there is some technical requirement for the book and if you don’t have interest in C++, it probably won’t do much for you. But if you want to check it out, my review can be found after the break.

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CryENGINE GamePrograming with C++, C#, and Lua Review Incoming

Hey everyone,

Soon I will have a review up for CryENGINE GameProgramming with C++, C#, and Lua by Filip Lundgren and Ruan Pearce-Authers, published by Packt Publishing.

It will be reviewed in the same style as the Unity Multiplayer Games review, and maybe I’ll make this a regular thing to review books I’m given or happen to pick up! Expect the review up this weekend or so.

Sample Chapters

Analysis: What It Means To Be Next Gen – Outbreak Rant

So I’m floored by the next gen hardware. Things like live streaming, and fast responsiveness are really cool and dandy in my opinion. Super awesome gfx and cloud AI generation is cool and what not.

But what changes the game experience? What really introduces new mechanics that really push the envelope?

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LudumDare Post Mortem

Looking back on the MiniLudumDare featuring sharks, I wanted to briefly recap what we made and offer criticism about it so that maybe in a future update or revision I can make the game better!

Read on for things I liked or didn’t like about my little 15 hour beat-em-up.

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Oculus Rift Dev Kit Impressions

Finally had some time with my Oculus Rift development kit over the last few weeks and I’ve been very impressed with the technology.

For those not in the know, the Oculus Rift is a Virtual Reality headset that tracks the player’s head movement while displaying 3D video games, pictures, or movies. It is extremely wild and definitely will mark the beginning of a VR resurgence.

Read on for more…
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