Content Philosophy: Content which benefits the community (news, rumors, and discussions) is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, self-promotion, etc.). Rules: Hover for mo…

Auto-tune 7 iLok crack.exe 202100% VirSCAN.org - free virus scan is a free online scan. Download 'Auto-Tune 7 VST PC v7.0.6d and ilok crack New' torrent (Software Description Antares Auto-Tune 7.Antares Autotune Torrent Windows» » Antares …

Feb 12, 2016  FPS Creator Classic Update V120. Free Model Packs. Over the years FPS Creator Classic released a lot of model packs, some created officially and some created by third parties. Those artists have generously agreed to release their packs for free as part of this open source project.

Guitar Guru Files Mgti Stocktwits Sgyp StockGuitar Guru Files Mgti Stocktwits SgypPromo Mitsibishi Pajero Januari 2018 – Dealer Mitsubishi Di Bekasi 0812-1210-3640 Pajero Sport Khusus pembelian Pajero Sport di bulan Januari 2018 (tanggal v…

Ley del seguro social comentada gratis pdf imssmobi download ley del imss 2017 pdf gratis ley del seguro social 2017 pdf cct imss 2015 file type. SmartSMS, vCard, vCanlenda, USSD give utterance command lite authorize, manumit kylixsms. Sen…

Jul 26, 2013 - Sebelumnya saya telah men share Game PS 1 Dan PS 2. Kalian bisa mendownloadnya secara gratis tanpa Biaya apapun. Extracts From The American Civil War Free Game Download; Angry Birds Space For PC. Download Harvest Moon BTN Ps…

Model pack FPS Creator X9 4shared Model Pack 1 Este model pack yo lo llamo una expansion de los modelos de la segunda guerra mundial, tiene soldados y objetos modernos, perfecto para un juego tipo SWAT. FPSC model pack 53 funciona 100%!!! …

Do not use the router’s default network name like D-Link or Netgear. Hackers have specific tools like rainbow table to bust into your network just by knowing your default SSID name. Someone hacked into my account and added a password onto …

Sep 28, 2017 - digital insanity keygen sony vegas pro 11 free download keygen do. Keygen for idm 6.21 free download; star crack windshield repair nazi. Crack Software. See more.,Unleash your inner detective with this highly engaging advent…

Setelah ia dibuang oleh pasangan online-nya Zhenshui Wuxiang, ia kini didekati oleh pemain nomor satu Yixiao Naihe, yang menyarankan bahwa mereka harus melakukan pernikahan sehingga mereka berdua bisa naik level dalam game.Pasangan yang ba…

Siang Alextro Service, Saya baru saja mendapatkan hadiah TV 14 Inch. Baru 1 minggu, eh mati. Setelah saya cek Ic vertikalnya pecah. Kapasitor di sekitarnya juga melembung. Setelah saya ganti komponen2 yang kelihatan rusak, tv nyala.Namun 1…

Features Benefits Supported Operating Systems. macOS Mojave.Paragon NTFS for Mac® is a stable driver which gives you full read and write access to Windows partitions under Mac® OS and Mac partitions under Windows. Paragon NTFS Cracked Seri…

BANNER ENGINEERING. Single End Cordset, 250VAC/DC, 4.0A, 3-Pole, Straight, Female PUR/Nickel Plated Brass Connector.Halo Sobat Edikomputer.com Libur Lebaran tentu menjadi momen yang berharga bagi anda yang pergi merantau dan pulang ke kamp…

DVDFab 11.1.1.1 Crack Plus Latest Key Free Download DVDFab 11.1.1.1 Crack a complete and powerful tool used for copying and Burning discs from computer to Discs and Vice versa. This DVDFab Crack has all necessary feature inside the package…

Cara mengetahui password wifi tetangga belum banyak diketahui. Padahal caranya cukup mudah dan dapat memberikan manfaat yang menguntungkan untuk Anda.Mengapa demikian? Karena, di era digital yang semakin maju, kebutuhan internet merupakan …

Soal Matematika Kelas 1 Sd– Berilah tanda silang (X) pada huruf A, B, C, atau D pada jawaban yang paling benar! Perhatikan puisi berikut ini! Puisi Awan Ku lihat kabut putih Menggumpal indah di angkasa Tampak lembut seperti kapas Tertembus…

No internet connection? Still you can install packages on Debian or Ubuntu from the installer CD/DVD ISO file. This trick is very useful in case of downgrading a package, which is no longer available, also saves a lot of valuable data. Deb…

Shareware Junction periodically updates pricing and software information of full version from the publisher using pad file and submit from users. Software piracy is theft, Using crack, password, serial numbers, registration codes, key gene…

Online SCN Coding for Mercedes Benz MB STAR C3/C4/super mb. Crack, Serial Numbers, Serial Keys, Keygen, License Keys for All Pro Software Free Download. Windows Activator and Products Keys are also Available. Full Version Software Free Dow…

Joss Stone Feet and Legs - Frustration Over Strict Label Rules Joss Stone's Frustration Over Strict Label Rules. Joss Stone Soul Sessions Vol.2 The Guardian CD: Joss Stone - The Soul Sessions Volume 2 The Arts Desk The. Alone Together EP D…

See Tes Psikometri MMPI-2 (Bahasa Indonesia) Gallery: We only deliver legal and safe mod apk for android. You can download Tes Psikometri MMPI-2 (Bahasa Indonesia) mod free from link given below with no cost and no lockers.Mods Apk usually…

Refx Nexus 2 Free DownloadI doubt I am the only one to have an impossible series of problems. So if anyone can help it would be nice: I am using Mixcraft 5(beta) which means I use a folder called VST inside Program Files. I have several ve…

420 BLAZE IT. GAME OF THE YEAR: 420BLAZEIT vs xxXilluminatiXxx [wow/10 #rekt edition] - Montage Parody The Game. Play vidge games Unblocked at school Lots of games Unblocked games The games All of the games They're unblocked Specifically f…

Ansys 11 Keygen Torrent TorrentWho was it that said “Nothing in life is free?” Whomever it was, they were wrong. There are a ton of amazing things in life that are free — including our ANSYS Student Version products!ANSYS Products 19.0 Ful…

Download Ai no Kusabi (2012) Anime Episodes for FREE, faster than Megaupload or Rapidshare, get your AVI Ai no Kusabi (2012) Anime, free Ai no Kusabi (2012) download.Sinopsis: Masaki Takahashi adalah seorang siswa SMA biasa yang sedang mem…

September is a time for a large section of the population to organise themselves for another year of study and hard work. For me, it signifies the end of a quiet moment to myself at breakfast, to be replaced by long periods of reflection whilst sat in traffic jams.

For my parents, it's time to reflect on forty fantastic years together as they celebrate their Ruby Wedding Anniversary - congratulations Mr & Mrs Vink! I've helped them reminisce with a thirty page book, spanning their childhood to the present day with their grandchildren. Fortunately I have a fantastic catalogue of photographs on my PC, catalogued by date, place, event and people. I can search several thousand photos effortlessly to find just what I need.

My organisation of code and programming resources leaves a little more to be desired. I follow a similar routine to that outlined by Lee Bamber later in the newsletter, so I am comforted by the fact that everything is safe; but finding it is a different matter altogether. I know that I could improve my rate of output significantly, if I could locate the right code snippet, model or texture at the right moment. I'm sure there are tools out there, and people out there that can recommend such a tool. So please let me know if these tools exist, and I'll share them with the community in a future newsletter.

As well as Lee's advice on backing up your valuable creations this month, we have a new initiative to identify the Best of the Best in the FPSC arena, more X10 updates, stills and video, two tutorials, the NVIDIA competition downloads and more of the usual news and views.

Until next time,

(1) FPSC X10 (2) Convention (3) FPSC News (4) BOTB (5) DBPro (7) DBPro Fundamentals (8) Lee's Tip of the Month (9) Tutorial - Full Game (10) Toolbox (11) PlayBasic (12) Job Opportunity (13) From the Forums (14) Submissions (15) Winner (16) Outro

FPS Creator X10 Update

This month has been a constant and never ending stream of tweaks to the graphics engine and game play. In addition to regular bug fixing, I can report some of the more interesting items that have been implemented since the last update.

We have stepped up to the June 2007 version of the DirectX 10 SDK which is the last version before the 10.1 preview. We have not decided whether to go further than this version for the first X10 release, but we will take a closer look at DirectX 10.1 when we have completed our current run of tasks.

The great news is that we have multiplayer working again in X10, running under Vista and playing every bit as good as the X9 version. We also found a really cool trick in creating a level in X9, building it in X10 and then setting up an arena game with one player running on XP and another on Vista. We will be looking to make this process a little easier as we expect end users to have Vista, who also have friends who are still on XP and still want to play arena matches.

Allies and enemies are now behaving like true soldiers. Allies hold position when you command them to, follow you into the jaws of battle and break away to think for themselves when they get the order to charge. Enemies no longer run aimlessly into a field of death. If three of their comrades are lying in a pile on the floor, they have the presence of mind not to make it a fourth. We could work on AI for the next ten years, but for the first release we are happy that our characters have enough marbles to stay alive.

This month we added dedicated melee attack code to the engine so characters without weapons can run right up to the player and start hitting them. At the moment the player cannot hit back, which might seem a little unfair, but one of the existing FPSC model packs has a great knuckleduster weapon which will slot right in for anyone wishing to make an open-air boxing game. We also have characters with some secret melee combat animation waiting to be integrated, such as the zombie who grabs the players head and attempts to eat his brain.

Another cool upgrade was the complete promotion of all sci-fi media to X10 using their full complement of textures. This means they will all have bump mapping as standard and, where provided, specular and illumination details. We discovered a good DX10 card can handle full scene bump mapping very well, and does not cause a significant performance drop. We are currently working on improving the sci-fi media as well, to ensure we get the best visuals from existing art. The cool trick here is that you can load in your old levels which use sci-fi segments, and get a visual boost simply by building it in X10. We have also added some new segments, which are even better!

To aid in our constant pursuit of faster frame rates, the X10 effects menu which is presented during the test game session now has the power to completely deactivate parts of the rendering cycle. For example, if the reflectivity value is set to zero, the engine knows that there is no need to even render a reflection, so this part of the sequence is skipped. The upshot is that on a per level basis, you can deactivate features you are not using to help performance. For example, if you created a sky city you could switch off water and shadows to give you more performance for more geometry. Alternatively you could switch off refraction if you know your level does not depend on refractive window and water effects.

Next month we are going to extend the above work even further by combining the refraction render with the main scene render, saving two whole scene renders per game frame. This should yield a significant performance boost, especially for high polygon scenes, without losing any of the effects. The work even provides two new benefits of being able to see refracting/reflecting water through a refracting window. This is still at the planning stage, so watch this space to see if we succeed in this ambitious approach to multi-level refraction.

We made some significant performance gains during the test and build game process, which increased the speed of segment cloning by about a thousand percent. We also improved overall rendering which in one test took a level from a crawling 12fps to a whopping 100fps.

In general, the betas are getting more polished each day, and more fun. A few days ago we created a large room, filled it with over a hundred skeletons holding WW2 grenades and armed the player with 50,000 health. We then placed the player right in the middle of the room and watched the carnage. No game, just the thrill of watching what happens.

FPSC X10 Preview Video

There is a preview video available, demonstrating some of the new features and latest additions. Take a look at refractive windows, GPU instancing, team commands, designing the look and feel in real time and ragdoll bodies falling from towers.

Preview on Google Video - http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=1736433651486827575

'07 - The Official Game Creators Convention

The Time: October 27 & 28, 2007
The Place: Hinsley Hall conference centre, Leeds, UK

With less than 2 months to go, now is the time to place your booking if you want to secure a place at the convention. There is so much happening behind the scenes at TGC right now, that the convention will be the place to be if you want to know what the future holds. You'll also get the chance to talk directly to Rick, Lee and the other developers and creative contributors.

Most of the accommodation is en-suite, but it is advisable to book as soon as possible to guarantee your room. Other parties will also be using the facilities, and rooms on the campus may be unavailable nearer the time.

You can download the booking form here, and return it with a small deposit to reserve your place. You can pay online, simply email michelle@devink.co.uk for the details. We are very excited about this event, and hope that you will take advantage of this unique opportunity. Find more details and join in the discussions on the forums.

News from the World of FPS Creator

Two new model packs are immediately available from the FPS Creator site, dedicated to arming your characters with the ultimate in weaponry. Both packs include 15 brand new weapons, including 2 melee attacks.

• .44 Snubnose - A five shot revolver.
• 93R - Pint-sized bullet hose. A burst-fire machine pistol.
• 1911 - A classic warhorse for modern times. An autoloading pistol.
• AKM - Yesterday's AK, today. A fully automatic battle rifle.
• Derringer - Chambered for powerful .45-70 ammunition. A breech loading, single-action pistol.
• Gatt22 - Full-sized forty. An autoloading pistol.
• J22 - As concealable as it is underpowered. A rimfire autoloader.
• Katana - Slice and dice your way to glory. Yes, it's a sword.
• M4A1 - When the going gets tough, the tough go cyclic.
  A fully automatic assault rifle.
• M4A1/M203 (Version 1) -
  M4A1 Mode: A fully automatic assault rifle.
  M203 Mode: A breech loading, single-shot grenade launcher.
• M4A1/M203 (Version 2) - Same as above but with a holographic optic.
• MCS870 - For close encounters. A pump-action, repeating shotgun.
• Model 442 - Light-weight, thirty-eight. A five-shot revolver with shrouded hammer.
• MP5N - An old lady in a new dress. A fully automatic submachine gun.
• XIX - Truly, a contemporary classic. An autoloading pistol.
• Zombie Hands - Experience life on the other side. An unarmed melee attack.
• Gloved Fists - Fists of fury. An unarmed melee attack.

For full details, images of each weapon and in-game shots, as well as ordering instructions, visit the Model Pack 9 page.

• .44 Combat - Fun for a boy or a girl. A five shot revolver.
• AK74M - The legend lives on. A fully automatic assault rifle.
• Compact .45 - Chopped and bobbed. An autoloading pistol.
• CQBR - Close Quarters Battle Rifle. A fully automatic subcarbine.
• Gatt18 - Spray and pray. A fully automatic machine pistol.
• JSCS Breecher - Dynamic entries have never been more crowd pleasing. An autoloading shotgun.
• Brass Knuckles - Leave a lasting impression. A melee weapon.
• M107 LRSR - One shot. One kill. An autoloading sniper rifle.
• M9 - Classy yet utilitarian. An autoloading pistol.
• M16A4 Get some! A burst-fire assault rifle.
• M16A4/M203 (Version 2) - Worlds collide. M16A4 Mode: A burst-fire assault rifle. M203 Mode: A breech loading, single-shot grenade launcher.
• M67 Fragmentation Grenade - Blow stuff up. An explosive hand grenade.
• Model 36 - Undercover classic. A five shot revolver.
• RPK - WOLVERINES! A drum-fed squad automatic weapon.
• T5 - Is that a shotgun in your pocket? A five shot, revolving-chamber shotgun.
• Gloved Fists - Fists of fury. An unarmed melee attack.
• Zombie Hands - Experience life on the other side. An unarmed melee attack.

For full details, images of each weapon and in-game shots, as well as ordering instructions, visit the Model Pack 10 page.

NVIDIA Competition Downloads

As mentioned in the DarkBASIC Professional section, the NVIDIA FPSC entries are also available for download. Again, the games with aspects that caught the attention of the judges have been highlighted for your convenience.

Bank Robbery
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Bank%20Robbery.zip

Beyond Life
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Beyond%20Life.zip

Dark Faction
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Darkfact.zip

Darkness Rising
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Darkness%20Rising.zip

Expendable
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Expendable.zip

Far from Home
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Far%20From%20Home.zip

Fire in the House
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Fire%20in%20the%20House.zip

Fire Trap
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Firetrap.zip

Infiltrator
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Infiltrator.zip

Windows xp ringan untuk warnet. Invaders
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Invaders.zip

Lost Soul in Space
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Lost%20Soul%20in%20Space.zip

Meat
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Meat.zip

Nightmare
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Nightmare.zip

Prison Break
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Prison%20Break.zip

Curse of the Jolly Roger
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Privateer%20Curse%20of%20the%20Jolly%20Roger.zip

Quest for Murgore
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Quest%20of%20Murgore.zip

Shallow Graves
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Shallow%20Graves.zip

Sight
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Sight%20Demo.zip

Spiderz
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Spiderz.zip

SS House
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/SS%20House.zip

Suckers
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Suckers.zip

The Commander Josh Chronicles
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/The%20Commander%20Josh%20Chronicles.zip

The Hazardous Escape
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/The%20Hazardous%20Escape.zip

Hood Hill
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/The%20Hood%20Hill.zip

The Wall
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/The%20Wall.zip

Triggerman
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Triggerman.zip

Warp
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Warp.zip

Tales of graces f review. Tales Of Graces F English Voice Files For Skyrim. Tales of Graces F (2. Tales of Graces F 2. Winter Anthology drama CDTales of Graces F 2. Summer Anthology Drama CDTales of Hearts. Tales of Hearts R (gamerip)Tales of Innocence. Tales of Knighthood Sonic and the Black Knight. Tales of Graces:f's English Trailer Streamed. Furk.net is your personal secure storage that fetches media files and lets you stream them immediately You can use it to stream video or listen to your music from PC, smartphone, HTPC or even a game console (XBOX, PS3).

Xcop 22
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_fpsc/Xcop22.zip

Best Of The Best

KeithC, your friendly neighbourhood FPSC Mod, has created a new initiative to recognise the most distinguished FPSC developers. Best Of The Best is the name - and badge - that will be given to those that are leading the way with innovative FPSC games.

So what classifies a contributor as Best Of The Best? As the name suggests, there are many good games out there, a lot of people being very creative and identifying those at the pinnacle of the FPSC realm is tough. 'Two of the criteria that I use to decide who makes the cut', says Keith, 'is both the originality and the type of game produced.'

'For example, Beyond Life is a great showing of what a single person can do with time and custom media. Anderson is a prime example that an FPSC-made title can appear on store shelves. Umbra shows what can be achieved with a great imagination and less focus on the 'run and gun' aspect of most First Person Shooters.'

'I don't look for games that are simply finished; I look for games that exhibit something special. Whether it's exceptional custom media/scripts, an interesting story, great puzzle elements, or even just an extremely well put together 'run and gun' game.'

So if you've finished your Masterpiece (or even just the demo) and you think it's good enough, contact one of the FPSC Mods..if they don't contact you first. Very soon, you will see the BOTB badge displayed alongside posts in the forums. Until then, you can peruse the dedicated thread in the FPSC forums.

DarkBASIC Professional Round-up

NVIDIA Competition Downloads

The Game Creators Server is now heaving at it's virtual seams with the NVIDIA competition entries. In this first batch, you will find all of the DarkBASIC Professional entries. Alongside, you will also find a quick icon-based reference to some of the games that were identified as being worthy of merit. You can find the FPSC entries later in the newsletter.

Bananoid
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/Bananoid.zip

Boxed
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/Boxed.zip

Cave Dweller
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/CaveDweller.zip

Call of the Dragon
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/COD.zip

Concentric
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/Concentric.zip

Colums
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/DB_Colums.zip

Epee
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/epee.rar

Final Exodus - Competition Winner
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/FinalExodus.zip

Gerbal Crazy
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/GerbalCrazy.zip

G.U.T.S.
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/GUTS2.zip

Hex Axis XXI
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/HexaxisXXICompo.zip

Illusion of the Tower
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/IllusionoftheTower.zip

Jones 3D
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/Jones3da.zip

Lawn Mower Joe
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/LawnMowerJoe.zip

Maze@ u
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/Maze@u.rar

Nanoid
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/nanoid.zip

Need for Sail
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/need_for_sail.zip

Overlord
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/Overload.zip

Street GT
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/StreetGT.rar

Terror Town
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/TerrorTown.rar

Tetris
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/Tetriscompopack.zip

Tower Commander
http://files.thegamecreators.com/nvidia_dbpro/Tower%20Commander.zip

Nox is an open source FPS engine. The author, Oliver Batley, has written this comprehensive piece of work in DarkBASIC Professional, and included a huge array of features:

• Fast polygon collision
• Jumping, Stairs, Sliding down slopes
• Shooting, Multiple weapons, Projectiles
• Lightmaps
• Pixel shader flashlight
• Offset mapping
• Enemies with smooth animation and intelligent AI
• Vehicles (capable of anything from bulldozers to hovercrafts)
• Unique HUD for picking up items, opening doors..

Nox is also directly compatible with 3D World Studio, allowing you to load your entities from the design environment into the game. The demo provides a simple but effective example of vehicle use, a feature lacking in many triple-A titles. A storyboard, through the use of notes found throughout the game, is a nice implementation of a game help system.

The only issue I found whilst playing the demo was the ability of enemy characters to attack through closed doors. But Oliver is responding regularly to the forum feedback, and as it's also open source, cases of stray code can be quickly rectified.

Even if you don't need an FPS engine, the source code is an invaluable reference in itself. Catch up with the latest developments in the forum thread, or visit the website.

Go Fish is the result of a personal challenge. David Daudelin decided to see whether it was possible to make a decent-quality game with DarkBASIC Professional in only a week. As it turned out, he finished the first version of the game in only five days, including time spent getting/making the media for it. With two days to spare, he produced a second version with powerups, bug fixes, and an improved backdrop.

The result is a very playable game with nice, simple graphics. Given the timescale, it has a reasonable number of additional features through the powerup system. It could benefit from a little more work to improve performance and perhaps polish up the peripheral scenery. But at the end of the day, it's great to see what can be done in such a small timeframe, and force oneself to concentrate on the gameplay.

You can download and play the game at http://www.treksoftware.org/

DarkBASIC Professional Fundamentals

Sharing Resources

Unlike the real world, a virtual world can pass entities around the system and share them amongst multiple items. This brief section illustrates this concept and ensures that the potential behind this simple methodology is understood.

Sharing Textures

One texture can be used on many models. You may want to use this technique for building a group of identical objects, such as houses or an army of soldiers.

Run the code! (Download the Project Files)

Example 1 creates 4 objects and applies the same texture to each one.

Sharing Objects

Again, the same model can be reused. This was explained in detail last month, with regard to cloning and instancing. Using these techniques can improve loading times, and memory usage in your game, and should always be considered. Remember that for objects with similar appearances and textures, instancing is the most effective method.

Sharing Objects and Textures

Finally, consider the scenario where you require 2 teams of players in different team colours. There are various ways to implement the objects and textures, of which this is probably the most efficient:

• Load your player model
• Clone the model, resulting in the basic object for each team
• Load the textures, and apply to each model
• Instance your 2 teams from their base object

Run the code! (Download the Project Files)

The second example shows this in action. The result is 2 teams of objects, each with their own emblems but also optimised through instancing. We load just one model and clone it; this facilitates 2 models with distinct characteristics. The two models are then instanced several times; the team members have shared characteristics. Just two images are used to texture all twenty objects.

This final tutorial in the series has utilised many of the lessons learned, and also introduced the concept of streamlining your development. Loading and creating objects, moving, turning, texturing and animating are all possible. Along the way, various coding concepts have been introduced which can now be investigated further through the relevant tutorials, if you haven't done so already. Here is a recap of the tutorials from this series over the last few months:

• February 2007 - Loading Objects
• March 2007 - Creating Primitives
• April 2007 - Using Images
• May 2007 - Animating Objects
• June 2007 - Positioning and Moving Objects
• July 2007 - Rotation
• August 2007 - Multiple Objects
• This issue - Sharing Resources

Good luck with your future projects. Maybe now is the time to look at the many other tutorials, both in previous editions of the newsletter and in the forums.

Lee's Tip of the Month - Backup or Beware

If you have been coding games long enough, you will have experienced the pure horror of watching your computer delete your source code. Worse still, is the slow realisation that you have no way to get it back, and that your code is gone forever.

Having spent over twenty years programming a computer, you can imagine how much work I have lost to the celestial trashcan in the sky. The computer presents many opportunities for you to accidentally delete your work, and also has a few tricks of its own to surprise you from time to time.

I have had a lot of backup plans, and most of them did not work well. Usually because they are time consuming or interrupt the normal flow of development. I have gone through everything from hideously slow tape streamers to monster hard drives that can die at any moment. I have experimented with super-safe RAID systems which make a complete mirror copy of your files, only to find out it has copied over all your corrupted files too. Whatever the solution, there will always be a downside.

The system I employ these days is pretty paranoid, but it has saved me about five times in the last seven months, and has the grace of being quick and painless.

I have two automated systems running all the time. First, a background task which makes a copy of selected folders every night at 3AM (easily deactivated if I am working late). The second is an online service which copies a larger field of critical files to a protected offsite server. Even if the whole office exploded, I would still have the work I did that day safely stored away.

I also have two manual systems which are far more useful and are usually the ones I use to retrieve lost files. The first is the tried and tested method of burning a DVD with your files. I have ensured my entire development area stays under 4GB, so that code changes are within that area only. I can then copy four folders to a blank DVD nightly and leave it burning overnight. In the morning I have a DVD of the night before, and a frozen moment in time in case I need to look back on old source code. The second manual method is like RAID without the corrupted files problem. I have installed an exact duplicate of the main hard drive in my computer. At the end of each week, I perform a complete hard drive copy from the main drive to the duplicate drive. This ensures that if the main operating system ever suffered a total failure, I can simply deactivate the failed drive and boot from it's duplicate and restore the development files from DVD or from the online server.

Here is some advice on RAID systems. Do not strip drives unless you have a non-stripped backup of your important files, otherwise you may find recovering files very messy. Mirror drives are fine, but they mirror everything, good files and bad. If you take advice from someone who has tried RAID three times, add a non-RAID backup system to your important files, and ensure you have the very best RAID controller!

Of all the methods available, my favourite is a pile of blank DVDs and a fast DVD writer. As a developer, I find the most important files are source code and email, everything else is to some degree replaceable. Don't pity the guy who loses a days work, pity the guy who loses his entire project!

Tutorial - From Template to Game

Ballz

Last month we talked about keeping track of object numbers and learned how a code template can get a project off to a flying start. This month we will take that template and fill it out to create a simple but fun game called Ballz.

The concept of Ballz:

• The player will control a ball that starts in the middle of the screen and can be moved with the arrow keys.
• There will be a number of target balls on screen that the player must collect.
• When a target ball is collected it will re-appear elsewhere and the score will be increased.
• There will be ‘enemy' balls that the player must avoid.
• The number of enemy balls will increase every few seconds to increase the difficulty level.
• It is game over if the player hits an enemy ball.

So, now we know how our game is going to play, we need to add some code to our template to make it work (you can find the template in last month's newsletter).

The first thing to do is define a User Defined Type (UDT) for the ball objects (see issue 28 of the newsletter for info about UDTs). So, under the REM statement ‘Define Types' we can add this code:

That should cover everything we need to know about our objects. We have the Object Number (Obj), the x, y and z co-ordinates, the angle it is travelling and the speed. So from there we can set our Player, Enemy and Target variables as the new type tObj.

This is a very simple game and is only using DBP primitive spheres so we don't need to load any objects but we will still need to create some. So, in the place we have set aside for assigning object numbers we can add this code:

OK, we've set aside 1 number for our player object, 50 numbers for our enemy objects and 5 for our target objects. We only need to make one of each though because we are going to instance the others.

Skipping ahead a little, we can look at our main loop:

It could be argued that our entire game is there, just those few lines. It isn't of course, there is more to it than that but reading through the loop, it is easy to see what needs to be done.

GetUserInput() is pretty straight forward. It is where we read what keys the user has pressed and act accordingly.

MoveBalls() The first of our new functions moves all the balls in the correct direction and at the correct speed.

CollisionDetection() The second new function checks to see if the player has collided with any other ball and act upon it.

UpdateDisplay() Perhaps the easiest function of them all. Simply position the balls in their new locations and update the score.

The next line in the main loop adds a new enemy every 5 seconds (or 5000 milliseconds).

_DeBug() This is a handy function to have during testing and you can use it to display on screen any info you are currently interested in. When the game is finished you don't want the user to see this info, so keeping it all in one place like this, makes it easy to delete it all.

In the MoveBalls() function there is this code:

This ensures that if the player goes off the edge of the screen, he will appear again at the opposite side. To get the numbers needed, the _DeBug() function came in handy. Simply print to screen the x and z co-ordinates of the player and take a note of what they read when at the edge of the screen.

The objective of this tutorial isn't to explain every line of code but instead, to show how to use last month's template to create a game. So, why not download the complete code and have a look at it? It is heavily commented, completing the finer details of this tutorial.

The game is actually very inefficient; there are several loops through the object numbers - one to move them, one more to check for collision, another to re-position them etc. It has been done this way to make it easy to read although for a project this size it really shouldn't matter. Perhaps you would enjoy the challenge of making it more efficient and doing everything in a single loop?

Ballz was made simple for this tutorial but it turned out to be a lot of fun to play. There are, however, many ways it could be improved. Why not have a go and see what you can do? Here are some suggestions:

• Texture the balls and have them roll.
• Have the player explode when he hits an enemy
• At the moment, new targets simply ‘pop' into place. Why not have them fade in or grow.
• Use a bitmap font for the score display.
• Add a high-score function.
• Have bonus balls appear at random intervals that do things like slow down the enemies, give temporary immunity, bonus score etc.

As you can see, there are many things that could be done to turn this into a complete game and hopefully using the new template it will be easy to insert additional code without getting it all jumbled up and that was of course, our main objective.

I look forward to seeing new and improved versions of Ballz.

Until then .. happy coding.

Download the source code for this tutorial here, with further comments on the functionality.

Developer's Toolbox

Jing is a simple way to capture screenshots, record computer activity and instantly share it online. The reason for featuring this service is because it's something many of us already do, but not in such a streamlined way.

Imagine trying to explain a problem over Instant Messaging, or describe a concept, design or process. In the past, I have recorded the screen activity to video, and uploaded it to YouTube, making it available in anything up to an hour. Jing does the same thing, but it's seamless. You click the Jing button, do your stuff, and when you're done it copies the address to your clipboard. Then, you just mail it or paste it in your messaging window.

As the site will tell you, this is a 'project', and is subject to changes through feedback and public demand. For now, it's a great free tool. http://www.jingproject.com/

PlayBasic News

PlayBasic - Round Up

by Kevin Picone

This month things have been pretty low key on the development front. Whilst there is a new PB update available, most of the time has been invested in other things, such as rounding up the Ballistic Blasters competition, and issuing our newsletter, as well as updating various demos/examples for compatibility.

Ballistic Blasters Results

Last month, just as the August newsletter was flying out into inboxes all over the globe, contestants in our Ballistic Blasters competition were submitting their work for evaluation. Here are the results, with scores.

First Place - Super Nova by Phillip Burke [73.0]
Second Place - Leviathan by Indigo [67.6]
Third Place - Cafe Fuego by Phillip Burke [59.6]
Fourth Place - Aquarius by Trevor Dunbar [37.0]

The Technical Achievement Award has been awarded to Leviathan by Indigo

Screenshots and downloads are available from the Underware Forums. You can also Have Your Say in the Players Poll, and vote for your favourite game.

PlayBasic V1.63m/n Retail Update

This release adds support for accessing array fields from User Defined Type pointers as well as addresses, and a few well hidden chestnuts with recursion, string comparisons and string splitting differences found in the VM2 runtime when compared to the original VM. The result is a very fast and stable development environment. Go to the full announcement for more details of this release. TGC customers can download the V1.63m from their Order history.

Back To PlayBasic V1.70

It's been a few months since PB 1.70 (Direct3D) has been our focus. The reason for this is due to having to play catch up with the some older chores. But now that those are out of the way, full time work can finally continue! Previously we'd been working on some new mapping techniques, and so getting those into the next beta will the first objective. Everything else is basically functional, other than sprite collision.

Sprite collision in PB1.70 presents a range of new hurdles due to the graphic engine changes. While all the pixel perfect collision systems will be intact and faster than ever, there's new combinations that we need to support with the introduction of the sprite entity system. Since entities can be 2D or 3D, this is going to make detecting collisions interesting. But I'm sure we'll get there.

The list of new PB features can be found here.

Twin Trix

In keeping with our current rebuilding phase of old demos, TwinTrix is our current WIP. If you're wondering why, it's simple. Without any help from us, the game consistently continues to pull in healthy traffic every month. Considering the number of block games & Tetris clones on the web, it does very well. While there's nothing really wrong with current version, it was built way back in 2004 with a very early edition of PB. So it's slower and would no doubt suffer from compatibility issues with newer operating systems - more than enough reason to give it a once over. Like all good plans the initial idea was just to give it a quick makeover, recompile and upload it. This was soon superceded with a growing list of extra features, most of which have been included to make the game easier to set up. Visually it vastly improved also with KaZooWee Entertainment giving the game some tantalizing new pixel art. Performance wise, the update is built with PB v1.63m (Direct X3) and runs about 2 to 3 times faster than the old version on my six year old Duron system. Therefore, we can assure fallback compatibility with even old clunkers.

Twin Trix V1.08 is available to download now.

Until next time, Over & Out

Job Opportunity at Sansoft

Sansoft is a fast-growing independent game company located in Sweden, developing three unique game titles for the PC platform. One of these games is an RTS coded in DarkBASIC Professional. Right now, they are looking for a programmer with knowledge and experience of the language. As a programmer with Sansoft, you will be working under a lead programmer in a team and against a deadline. The company expects to be demonstrating the game at a large exhibition in Sweden within a month, and consequently are very serious about the deadline. You will be expected to be online daily, work by your own incentive, and have in-depth knowledge of DarkBASIC Professional.

For Sansoft, DarkBASIC professional is an irreplaceable tool allowing easy realisation of their game concepts and designs.

To apply, email Nils Carlén with your CV and portfolio - jobs@apoc-online.net.

From the Forums

The forums are displaying the usual mix of raw talent..

Realworld Terrains

Visigoth has been busy generating terrains from real-world data. The results are astounding, and his work continues. See the latest improvements and take a walk around the Grand Canyon.

Influx

Still a Work in Progress, Influx is nicely presented with a cartoon feel, including a lead character modelled in the style of Rayman. This looks like it has great potential, and is getting some nice feedback.

.

Physics Powersliding

Lucy is perfecting the art of vehicle creation and powerslides. The source code is available, alongside a compiled version if you simply want to check the results.

4 Player Shoot 'em up

Jimpo has released a retro-styled space shoot 'em up named Shooter. Nice easy controls, powerup system and a whole host of baddies.

.

Newsletter Submissions

We are always pleased to receive submissions for the newsletter. In fact, we encourage you to do so. To ensure you can quality-check your own work, there is a set of guidelines which you should read and use to complete your news item. You might find, after reading them, that you already have something worth publishing.

Completed Games / Applications

If your game is complete, please consider the following points:

1. Is it a published product? The community is always inspired by developers who have found a publisher or found significant success in the public domain.

2. Have you had positive feedback on the forums? If not, you should post your game there to gauge the response, or work on the feedback you have received to ensure your application is of a standard that encourages people to be positive about your accomplishments.

3. What is your USP (Unique Selling Point)? Readers will only tolerate a remake of Pong so many times! We want to see innovation, or something noteworthy to bring to the attention of the community.

4. Is it developed using products sold by TGC? As much as we are encouraged and inspired by the many developments in the indie game world, the newsletter is naturally dedicated to our own product range. There are other outlets for applications developed using alternative products.

Work In Progress

Generally speaking, a WIP would need to be of exceptional quality and/or content to be considered. Again, the feedback from the forum is a good gauge of just how newsworthy a WIP is. At the very least, it would need to have a public beta to show that it was capable of being completed at a later date.

Commercial Products

Products for sale (rather than games and applications created using TGC applications) are included at the discretion of TGC. They must primarily be of benefit to the community we serve, and add value to the environment our customers work in.

Submission Content

Please include as much information as possible when submitting articles for inclusion: Name, location and age. We will only publish a general location, and age is only necessary to ensure nothing is made public that would be considered inappropriate. '18+' is enough to let us know that you are not a minor. Also consider:

• Team status - developed as an individual, with a team, as a commercial venture. Size of team if appropriate.
• Products Used - development language, plus any other tools that are of interest to our readership.
• Overview of your news item - game, tool, application, service. Brief synopsis of what it is exactly you are submitting, and what makes it newsworthy.
• Detail. Feel free to submit your item as a finished article, but be aware that it will be edited to suit the style and space constraints of the newsletter. Provide as much detail as you can, including but not limited to storylines, team details, application development pipeline (tools used), points of particular interest (use of AI, Physics etc), challenges you have faced, tools / language specifics that made the application possible, how your work benefits the community, what you have gained from the experience, future plans and so forth.

Supporting content

Please include screenshots, links to videos, website, forum thread(s) and if possible access to the game / product / service itself. Ensure all files are fully virus-checked. Expect a large bandwidth increase when the Newsletter is published. If you cannot cope with this then TGC might be able to host the zipped file for you.

This month's Winner

Each month we pluck one lucky subscriber from the newsletter mailing list and award them a free copy of DarkBASIC Professional. The email address of this month's winner is: frogchucker1@?????.com If this is you then send us an email to claim your prize.

Outro

Share your news with over 14,000 active games developers!

If you have something you'd like featured in a future issue then please get in touch and include as much information as possible (including where applicable: screen shots, URLs and zip files).
Issue 57 deadline - September 27th.

Famous quote - 'Once a new technology starts rolling, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road' - Stewart Brand

The Game Creators in no way endorse or support products mentioned in this newsletter that are not specifically published by them. Always check first before parting with your money. © The Game Creators Limited 2007.