SDL with C – Knox Game Design, December 2019

December 9, 2019Meetings, Podcast, PresentationsKnox Game Design

This month’s topic is SDL with C. Before Unity and GameMaker, there was the Simple Direct Media Layer. It can be used to create 2D and 3D games on a wide variety of platforms. C is still one of the most widely used programming languages. We will discuss how to get a simple game running in C using the SDL libraries.

This presentation covers the basics of the C programming language, how to compile a simple program with GCC, and an overview of data structures and pointers. We show how to create an SDL shooter game starting with getting a window to display, to adding a ship, bullets, and enemies.

Links and Notes

SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) website – https://www.libsdl.org/
MinGW website – http://mingw.org/
MinGW download mirror on SourceForge – https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/
SDL Shooter source code on GitHub – https://github.com/gatechgrad/SDLShooter
Drew Ragsdale (Retro Cemetery) games on Itchio – https://retro-cemetery.itch.io/
Drew’s GameMaker videos – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsoBomrgqKe-rbp8A8YTYEA
Peach Jam – https://www.momocon.com/peach-jam/
Theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Cyberspace Shootem up gameplay video by Drew

Knox Game Design

SDL with C - Knox Game Design, December 2019

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Scratch – Knox Game Design, November 2019

November 13, 2019Meetings, Podcast, PresentationsKnox Game Design

This month’s topic is Scratch. Scratch is a game development environment where visual code blocks are dragged and dropped instead of writing code. It is a good tool to introduce programming concepts to people who have no coding experience.

Links and Notes

Scratch website – https://scratch.mit.edu/
Dylan’s Inktober entries on Redbubble – https://www.redbubble.com/people/dylanwolf/collections/1188929-inktober-2019
Chris Gardner’s (@freestylecoder) Extra Life page – https://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=388164
Mike Neel’s Pico-8 tutorials – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAxvktmqTdQ8X_A6tZKBZPA_XfMAYP_Ek
Seige conference videos from Atlanta – https://www.youtube.com/user/GeorgiaGameDevs/videos
Theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Knox Game Design

Scratch - Knox Game Design, November 2019

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Fall ’19 Game Jam Showoff – Knox Game Design, October 2019

October 17, 2019Meetings, Podcast, Show and TellKnox Game Design

We show off the four games created by East Tennessee developers for Fall ’19. The theme was “Start with Nothing”

Hosts

Dylan Wolf	https://www.dylanwolf.com/	@DylanWolf	https://dylanwolf.itch.io
Levi D. Smith	https://levidsmith.com	@GaTechGrad	https://gatechgrad.itch.io

Links and Notes

Self-Made Spaceman – https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/self-made-spaceman
Mahjong Drop – https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/mahjong-drop
The D U S T – https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/the-d-u-s-t
Ludum Lux – https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/ludum-lux
Theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Knox Game Design

Fall '19 Game Jam Showoff - Knox Game Design, October 2019

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Creating Games in Smalltalk – Knox Game Design, September 2019

September 11, 2019Links & Notes, Meetings, Podcast, PresentationsKnox Game Design

This month’s topic is Creating Games in Smalltalk. We look at how it is possible to create games in the Smalltalk language using the Squeak environment. Smalltalk is one of the first object oriented languages, where everything is an object.

Smalltalk Example Code

Hosts

Dylan Wolf	https://www.dylanwolf.com/	@DylanWolf	https://dylanwolf.itch.io
Levi D. Smith	https://levidsmith.com	@GaTechGrad	https://gatechgrad.itch.io

Links and Notes

Running a Board Gaming Event by Dylan – https://www.dylanwolf.com/2019/08/11/running-a-board-gaming-event-cards-against-humanity/
/dev/random bash script by Levi – https://github.com/gatechgrad/RandomNumberGeneratorExamples/blob/master/random_examples_bash/devrandom.sh
Unreal Engine 4.23 – https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/unreal-engine-4-23-released
Programming Languages Chart – http://www.digibarn.com/collections/posters/tongues/ComputerLanguagesChart.png
Squeak documentation – https://squeak.org/documentation/
Smalltalk coding guide – https://squeak.org/documentation/terse_guide/
Morphic for beginners – https://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/1870
Introduction to Morphic – http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks/CollectiveNBlueBook/morphic.final.pdf
Squeak by example – https://hal.inria.fr/inria-00441576/file/SBE.pdf
Theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Knox Game Design

Creating Games in Smalltalk - Knox Game Design, September 2019

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Random Number Generators (RNG) – Knox Game Design, August 2019

August 12, 2019Links & Notes, Meetings, Podcast, PresentationsKnox Game Design

This month’s topic is Random Number Generators (RNG). We discuss the various methods for generating random values in game development. We provide specific examples for Unity, GameMaker, and Unreal Engine. We also look at combinatorics for determining the likelihood of outcomes.

Hosts

Jacob			https://gamejolt.com/@Big_Ol_Tom/games
Dylan Wolf	https://www.dylanwolf.com/	@DylanWolf	https://dylanwolf.itch.io
Levi D. Smith	https://levidsmith.com	@GaTechGrad	https://gatechgrad.itch.io

Links and Notes

PUZL by Dylan – https://dylanwolf.itch.io/puzl
Space Shooter Improved by Levi – https://levidsmith.com/games/space-shooter-improved/
Tetris random generator – https://tetris.fandom.com/wiki/Random_Generator
3Tris on Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.doublesquare.threetris
Theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Knox Game Design

Random Number Generators (RNG) - Knox Game Design, August 2019

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Pico-8 – Knox Game Design, July 2019

July 18, 2019Links & Notes, Meetings, Podcast, PresentationsKnox Game Design

An overview of using the Pico-8 fantasy console to develop games using the Lua programming language. We look at the steps and code for building a number guessing game and a simple space shooter.

Hosts

Dylan Wolf	https://www.dylanwolf.com/	@DylanWolf	https://dylanwolf.itch.io
Levi D. Smith	https://levidsmith.com	@GaTechGrad	https://gatechgrad.itch.io

Links and Notes

Pico-8 official site – https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php
Lua official site – https://www.lua.org/about.html
Unity Build Tool wiki page – https://levidsmith.com/wiki/Unity_Build_Tool
Knoxville Game Design upcoming meeting topics thread – https://www.knoxgamedesign.org/community/topic/upcoming-online-meeting-topics/
Yatzy Dice Game – https://levidsmith.com/games/yatzy-dice-game/
Google Hangouts shutdown – https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/01/the-great-google-hangouts-shutdown-begins-october-2019/
Theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Knox Game Design

Pico-8 - Knox Game Design, July 2019

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Calling Web Services from Unity – Knox Game Design, June 2019

June 11, 2019Links & Notes, Meetings, Podcast, PresentationsKnox Game Design

This month, the discussion will cover working with web service calls in Unity using RestSharp. First, we’ll look briefly at prototyping services in Node.js (though the Unity examples will work with any platform that supports JSON). Then, we’ll look at how to call the service in Unity, including how to show a “working” indicator and handle errors.

Code Examples – https://bitbucket.org/dylanwolf/unitywebservicedemo/src/default/

Hosts

Dylan Wolf	https://www.dylanwolf.com	@DylanWolf	https://dylanwolf.itch.io
Levi D. Smith	https://levidsmith.com	@GaTechGrad	https://gatechgrad.itch.io
Jacob			https://gamejolt.com/@Big_Ol_Tom/games
William
Blake

Links and Notes

Primordial by Jacob – https://gamejolt.com/games/primordial/411157
Yen Master by Levi – https://gatechgrad.itch.io/yen-master
Cup Code Gamers (Jason Yarber) – http://www.cupcodegamers.com/
Updated Knox Game Design directory – https://www.knoxgamedesign.org/directory/
Theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Knox Game Design

Calling Web Services from Unity - Knox Game Design, June 2019

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Spring ’19 Game Jam Entries – Knox Game Design, May 2019

May 16, 2019Meetings, Podcast, Show and TellKnox Game Design

This month we show off the games created by Knoxville developers for Spring ’19. Drew also tells us about his new site for designing board games called Strategame.

Hosts

Drew Purifoy	https://www.strategame.com	@Druveloper
Levi D. Smith	https://levidsmith.com	@GaTechGrad	https://gatechgrad.itch.io

Links and Notes

Dylan’s upcoming talks at Momocon – https://www.dylanwolf.com/2019/04/16/upcoming-panels-april-2019/
- The Joy of Game Development (Sunday, 1am, Panels 311)
- RPG Maker VX Ace Scripting Crash Course (Sunday, 4pm, Panels 316)
Strategame by Drew – https://www.strategame.com
TigSource list of game engines – https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=21471.0
Unity 2019.1 released – https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/WhatsNew20191.html
Blender 2.8 – https://www.blender.org/
Kitty’s Adventure speedruns – https://www.speedrun.com/Kittys_Adventure
TIC-80 tiny computer (Pico-8 alternative) – https://tic.computer/create
Primordial by Jacob – https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/primordial
Yen Master by Levi – https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/yen-master
Yen Master time lapse – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUisv2K4Luw
Theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Knox Game Design

Spring '19 Game Jam Entries - Knox Game Design, May 2019

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Music for Game Developers – Knox Game Design, April 2019

April 16, 2019Meetings, Podcast, PresentationsKnox Game Design

This month will be a discussion on music for game developers. Learn the math and science behind music theory. We will cover tools that can be used for music composition, and how to apply the music resources in game engines.

Hosts

Dylan Wolf	https://www.dylanwolf.com/	@DylanWolf	https://dylanwolf.itch.io
Levi D. Smith	https://levidsmith.com	@GaTechGrad	https://gatechgrad.itch.io

Links and Notes

Dylan’s upcoming panels – https://www.dylanwolf.com/2019/04/16/upcoming-panels-april-2019/
PxTone – https://studiopixel.sakura.ne.jp/pxtone/
Bosca Ceoil – https://boscaceoil.net/
GarageBand – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/garageband/id682658836
Hook Theory – https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/view/nintendo/legend-of-zelda-main-theme
Emotions of Musical Keys – http://www.gradfree.com/kevin/some_theory_on_musical_keys.htm
CodeTN – https://codetn.org/
Gonp (Pong for Unity) by Amos Garner – https://agamerstudios.itch.io/gonp
Theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Knox Game Design

Music for Game Developers - Knox Game Design, April 2019

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QBasic – Knox Game Design, February 2019

February 18, 2019Meetings, Podcast, PresentationsKnox Game Design

This month’s topic is game development history featuring QBasic. We discuss how we got started with game development and the first tools and languages that we used. Levi D. Smith shows how to setup QBasic using DOSBox and a brief overview of the language. We also show the Knoxville GameMaker games created for GM48 last month.

Knoxville Game Design is a discussion of games currently being created by game developers in the Knoxville and East Tennessee area, as well as an analysis of current topics in the gaming industry.

Hosts

Joe Miller	http://doublesquarellc.com/	@DoubleSquareJoe	https://doublesquare.itch.io/
Ruth Ann Manning	http://meemawsurrendered.com		https://tranzeve.itch.io/
Levi D. Smith	https://levidsmith.com	@GaTechGrad	https://gatechgrad.itch.io
Jacob			https://gamejolt.com/@Big_Ol_Tom
Drew

Links and Notes

DOSBox – https://www.dosbox.com/
QBasic download at QBasic.net – https://www.qbasic.net/en/qbasic-downloads/DOS/Windows-Solutions.htm
Dylan’s QBasic games – https://bitbucket.org/dylanwolf/oldgames/src/default/
Levi’s QBasic games – https://github.com/gatechgrad/QBasicMiniGames
QBasic examples at Pete’s QBasic Site – http://www.petesqbsite.com/
Theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Knox Game Design

QBasic - Knox Game Design, February 2019

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