Sunday, May 31, 2009

About my mother...

As you can see I didn't get to the blog yesterday. I spent the day with my family as my mother is going to die soon. I am going to try and keep writing the blog so keep tuned in.

The text box is taking a little more time than I anticipated. For now I might just leave it and work on other aspects of the project as it is not important right now.

Jamie

*UPDATE*
I got a call and will have to leave for a few days.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Friday, May 29, 2009

I got bad news today...

I told you that my mother had a stroke. The family has decided to remove her from life support and let her pass. I spent most of the day away from the computer and I will be spending most of tomorrow away from the computer as well.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Creating a Text Box Control in XNA 3.0

Welcome back!

I have begun work on the text box that I was talking about. I think it is coming along nice. I am hoping to have it ready fairly soon. I don't have as much time as I would like because of my mother. I will keep making posts about what I am doing in the project.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Text box control...

Welcome back!

I have a little time today. I'm going to try and create a text box control. It will not be as robust as a Windows text box. It will only put in upper case letters, numbers, the space key and the back space key. It should be ready tonight, unless thing go seriously wrong with my mother.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

I hate to say it but my mother is getting worse instead of better. I'm trying to do work but I have a lot of repsonsibilities to attend to. When I have time I have been working on the tile set.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Monday, May 25, 2009

Things keep getting worse...

It sounds like my mother will not live out the week. I wish there was more I could do on the project right now but I really can't.

Sorry.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Very, very bad news this morning...

Welcome back!

I got a phone call this morning. My mother had a stroke and a heart attack last night. It looks like I will be away for a while. I won't be able to do much programming while I'm gone. I will have internet access though and should be able to make my posts. I will still be working on the project. Right now I'm creating the tiles for the tile engine. I like what I have come up with so far. I will try and post an update a little later on today.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Update on the tiles...

Welcome back!

Well, instead of trying to find tiles I'm trying to make some. So far I think I'm doing a fair job. I added them to a simple tile engine to test them. This is the result:



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Incredible textures

I was looking for some nice tile textures for the game. I didn't exactly find what I was looking for but I did find an amazing site, Spiral Graphics. It has the most incredible textures I have seen. If you want hi-resolution textures it would be an excellent place to look.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

XNA Role Playing Game project update

Welcome back!

The character generator will be a little simple. Because of the way I decided to make the characters, using a skill based system instead of a class based system, there are really only three things for the player to choose from. The gender of the character, the name of the character and what difficulty level the player wants to play at. So, I'm going to make a menu like system for creating the character. I will eventually have make a text box control to allow the player to enter a name. For now I think I will just let the player chose a name from a random list of names, probably ten male and ten female. 

I'm hoping to have the tutorial ready for Monday May 25th, GMT. I don't have much to do this weekend so it might be done sooner.

Keep coming back, I will be making updates regularly.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Friday, May 22, 2009

XNA GUI controls...

Hi again,

I don't know if you read the post about creating a button control in XNA but there was a problem with the control. A few pixels at the bottom of the text were cut off. I managed to fix that problem. I'm just mentioning that because I want to make a few more GUI controls to make a character generator for the role playing game. I'm going to make a picture of what the interface will look like and post it on the blog. I'm also going to also make a player character class.

I'm also thinking of finding a way to just use the keyboard instead of the mouse and get an XBOX 360 controller to add support for the controller to the game.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

The next XNA RPG Tutorial is ready...

Welcome back!

I have finished the role playing game tutorial like I promised. I have uploaded it to my website in PDF format. It is a little long, 13 pages, but I covered quite a lot in it. 

You can find the tutorial at this link:

You can find the project at this link:

You can fint the images I used at this link:

You can find very good free images, for non-commerical use at feebleminds:

Come back again soon, I should have more good stuff up soon.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

XNA Role Playing Game project PDF

 
Welcome back!

Well, I have been working on the PDF for creating the Role Playing Game using XNA Game Studion 3.0. It is coming along nice and I should have it available soon, as well as the actual project.

For the actual project, instead of have many versions of the project available for download I think I will just have one copy with the most up to date project for download. I'm also thinking of creating a page on my website that will have links to all of the PDFs about the project.

If you remember I said I was just going to have two characters for the player to choose from. I have never really liked that in a RPG so I've decided to make a character generator.

Keep coming back, I will post lots of updates.

Thanks for reading!

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Thursday, May 21, 2009

About the RPG in XNA

Welcome back!

I did a fair amount of work on the RPG today. I've got something that works pretty well. I've created the base project that I will be using through out the series. I should have a PDF on how to create the project for download soon as well as the actual project. Instead of using my business web site for the project I'm thinking of finding a free web hosting site. If the blog gets very popular I will get a custom domain name and host it separately. Keep coming back I will be updating the blog frequently.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Making the menu system for the RPG in XNA


Welcome back!

As it turns out I have a lot of time to dedicate to the RPG in XNA today. I'm hoping to have a simple navigation system up and running, it is already very close to working. 

Creating a user interface in XNA, I find, is a little tricky because you have to create the controls like buttons, text boxes, etc. Even the simplest role playing game requires a user interface, such as creating a character, buying and selling items and managing the character's items.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Hi again, a screen shot of the menu...



I did a little work on the menu this afternoon and thought I would post a screen shot. The image isn't mine, I got it from http://feebleminds-gifs.com/free-pictures.html. They have an excellent collection of art free to use for non-commercial use and possibly commercial use if you get the artist's permission. What I more wanted to show you was the text of the menu. When the up or down arrow keys are pressed the red hi-light bar scrolls up and down. I will try and have a PDF on how to create the menu on my website shortly. This is going to be the starting point of the project.

Come back soon, I hope to have more up and going.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Hello again...


Welcome back!

Well, the crisis with my father is over so I'm going to be able to start working on things a little more. I'm going to get busy and start writing some code. I was going to start with the tile engine but I think it is a little early for that. What I am going to start working on is the screen manager. I will be using the system that I talked about earlier. It is Wednesday here and they are busy for me.  So, this is what I'm going to try and do. On Fridays, according to GMT, and Mondays I will try and post a tutorial onto my website along with the latest code for the project. I might try and make short little tutorials on other aspects of XNA, I will be posting them on Dream In Code as well. Well, have a great day.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Family crisis


Welcome back!

Sorry to say this but my father is extremely ill. I will be away from the project for a few days. I will try and make a post everyday to let you know what is going on. 

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Thursday, May 14, 2009

It was a dark and dismal morning...


Welcome back!

I know that was a bit cliche but I couldn't help myself. It is a dark and dismal morning here. It is cloudy and damp.

Well, you are here to read about the project not the weather.  I think I will start to work on the tile engine. I have a small tile set that I found on the internet but I can't find who created it so I can credit them. They are not the most stunning tiles but when you write your own game it should not be hard to change the tile set. At least that is my intention.

I hope to have it up very soon.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Just got home...


Welcome back!

Well, I didn't get to the project today. I've been away for most of the day. I will try and do some work on it tonight but I can't make any gaurantees. What I'm going to try is to have the skeleton of the project ready.

So, come back again and hopefully I will have something up again really soon.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The NPC Generator as promised...

Well, I've finished the new NPC generator.  It is not building the actual NPCs for the game. It is building the templates that the NPCs will be created from. I've included the entire project, not just the final version.

This is how the generator works. When you first start it up everything but the buttons, the open menu item and exit menu item are disabled. If there are no characters in the list they are disabled as well.

To open and save a list you must navigate to the folder you want to read or write to.

I think everything else is pretty self-explanitory and intuitive. If you have a problem or a question feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

This is where you can find the generator:

NPC Generator

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

NPC Generator


Welcome back!

I was going to post the NPC Generator today but I changed my mind on how I want to save the definitions. Instead of  saving each one individually I want to save a list. I've been working on the generator and it is close to being done but not quite. I hope to have it ready for download shortly.

Otherwise Tuesdays are a busy day for me so I'm not sure how much time I will have to devote to the project today.

Please, keep coming back.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Monday, May 11, 2009

Enough messing around...

Welcome back!

Well, I think I've got the idea. The player can choose one of two characters to play: Zoey or Aris. 

I'm going to start writing the game. Still don't have a title or story line but I will get there. First I'm going to make the menu system. It will be ready in a day or two. Keep coming back and I will try and have more and more content. I will post a link the the character generator shortly.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Another cold, damp, rainy day...

Welcome back!

I'd like to thank Bocard for following the blog. I hope that you will enjoy your stay here. 

Anyway, I will be making the game open-ended. There will be one ultimate quest where the game will be won but how the player gets there will be totally up to the player. As certain points of the game they will get visions off some sort of cataclysm and what must be done to stop the cataclysm. The quests don't have to be don in order.

I'm going to finished the character editor today and make it available for download with some sample characters.

Look for that around 9:00-10:00PM May 10, 2009
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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Cold, miserable day here

Welcome back!

Well, it is a new day here and it is cold, damp and miserable. I really want to see the sun for more than two or three hours in a day. Any way, I'm doing some work on the game this afternoon as well I have to do a little work on my web site and my other blog. I have four projects on the go and it is hard to give them the time that they deserve as well as do the things that need to be done in a day.

But, I've made commitments and I intend to fulfill them. So, please keep coming back and I will try and have a lot of new content everyday. I have an editor for creating characters that I'm going to modify. I'm not going to write a tutorial on how to create it. I'm just going to make it available for download.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Working hard on the project...

Welcome back!

Well, I've been busy, busy, busy. Like I said before, Tuesdays and Wednesday are very busy days for me. I have a lot that I have to do. I have been working on the project though. Before I go much farther though I want to come up with a name for the game and a story line.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

What's going on...

Welcome back!

I'm not sure if I've said this here but Tuesdays and Wednesdays are very busy for me so I haven't really had that much time to do the things I wanted to do today and I won't have all that much time tomorrow. I'll make sure that there is something good for Thursday evening though and I will try and have somthing tomorrow night too.

Cheers!

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Monday, May 4, 2009

I'm working as fast as I can...

Welcome back!

I'm working on getting some things ready to post. I do have a lot on the go right now though. I'm not abandonning you though. I still want to show you how you can make a nice 2D RPG in XNA. The next tutorial should be ready soon as well as the base project. Come back again soon, I'm sure something will be up. BTW, instead of using HTML for the tutorials I'm going to create PDFs. They are a little easier to make than the HTML tutorials. You can also save them to your HD for reference later.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Sunday, May 3, 2009

What I'm working on

I'm trying to build up the project that I will be using through the rest of this series. I may have to send my laptop into the shop again. I don't think I will until I get a graphics card for my new computer that is capable of doing XNA. I will have to try and find the specs for it first and see what AGP speed the motherboard has. I might just go out and see if I can find an ATI Radeon 9200 series card, that should work.

Hope you had a great weekend.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Last tutorial on Asteroids on DIC

Welcome back!

Well, the final tutorial on an Asteroids clone in XNA is now on Dream in Code. You can find it at this link:


I will be making another post about the project later on today so please come back.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Project organization...

Welcome back!

So far I've come up with five game libraries that I want to build. I want to make a GUI library, a Tile Engine library, an Audio library, a Sprite library and a Character library. 

I think the libraries are pretty explanitory. GUI holds controls, Tile Engine holds the tile engine, Audio will have everything to do with audio, Sprite will hold sprites and the Character will hold everything to do with the characters in the game. 

Today or tomorrow I'm going to build the skeleton for the project and make it available for download on my website with a short tutorial on how to add the libraries to the project.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code

Friday, May 1, 2009

Welcome to May

Hi there.

Well, it is a brand spanking new month and things are looking good. I'm working hard on things and I'm trying to get busy doing everything I said I would yesterday and work a little harder on posting things in my blogs.

Right now I actually have to leave, errands to run, that sort of thing. Anyway, have a great day! And if you live in the northern hemisphere be happy, summer is almost here!

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Proud member of Dream.In.Code