Today I Learned: Connections Can Come From Anywhere

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So GDC 2014 starts this Monday and as much as I want to go, I only went last year to shoot for an awesome internship. The people, the booths, the information were all great but its hard to justify the cost to get down there right now especially now that I do have an awesome internship at Ubisoft.

But something hilarious happened today in relation to GDC and, to some it might not be a big deal, but to me its just… WOW the coincidence. And its just so inspiring and now if I truly had the money, I’d jump right back on the plane to GDC again.

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

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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

Today I Learned: WPF Templates

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Ugh XAML. Functional its really nice, and with Windows Presentation Foundation, it makes for some really awesome GUIs. You can do all kinds of cool data binding and automatically display information. A few projects about a year or so back using WPF XAML and C# is what reinvigorated my love for programming, which admittedly was looking down for awhile. But damn is it messy. Quick example: You can make an excel grid automatically display the data members in your class. If you had a class of Customers, with all kinds of Customer info, you can bind the grid to a list/array or collection of Customer and have it automatically display this info. So awesome! But, what if you wanted a specific kind of grid with specific properties? Continue reading →

Today I Learned: Const All The Things

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Welcome to a new column I plan on making semi-day (possibly weekly?), providing I get the chance to.

Today I Learned: Const.

Const all the things. Const the variables, const the function, const the members in the function,  const even if you want to modify the data later until you get to the point you need to modify data and work backwards because plans tend to change.

CONST

Book Review: Unity Multiplayer Games

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Welcome to my first official book review!
*cue streamers and fireworks*

Unity Multiplayer Games by Alan Stagner, published by Packt Publishing is a really interesting and relevant read for anyone interested in multiplayer game programming. Even if you are not the biggest Unity buff, the book explores a lot of great concepts that are critical to designing and implementing multiplayer video games.

Read on to find out what the books covers, some pitfalls, and even play the Pong game the book has you make…..

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Recommend Reading: The Making Of Crash Bandicoot

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Here is about 1-2 hours of reading that is a smorgasbord of amazing behind-the-scenes for the design of Crash Bandicoot.

There is something here for everyone. Whether you’re into design, art, management, programming, or just want to hear about what its like going up against Miyamoto head-to-head and having him play your game at E3.

Hilarity ensues throughout the entire thing.

As a programmer, you may be particularly privy to Andy’s custom LISP language GOOL (and GOAL used for Jak/Daxter) at Part 9. If you’re not into technical stuff like how these guys helped pioneer the first ever genre of 3D adventure games and their technical limitations, you might want to avoid most of the stuff in the first 3 parts but even artists should pay attention.

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

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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

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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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