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March 13, 2007 12:42 PM
Hi there, This blog was created for a class and is no longer being updated. Please visit The Pencil Farm for more current postings about my game designs.
.cadin
Project: This Site | link | 0 Comments
Almost there…
December 13, 2005 02:00 PM
I’m getting really close.
Which I guess is a good thing since the show is in 3 days.
I made my little alien pods this week. Added intro, instructions and game over screens to the game. Fixed a bunch of bugs. Found a bunch more bugs that still need to be fixed.
I added a couple buttons on the back of the console that can shut down and restart the game. So in the unlikely (cough) event that the game crashes during the show I can get it running again without having to pull out a keyboard or anything.
The pods seem to be working fairly well. They still lose connection occasionally. It wouldn’t be that big of deal, except that sometimes they will just become slightly disconnected and show up as the wrong pod. I think that is more confusing to the user than if the thing just doesn’t register at all.
Anyway, still making progress. I’m not sure how many bugs I’ll be able to fix before the show. At this point they are mostly just game inconsistencies, which make the game kind of suck, but won’t actually crash it or anything, so it’s showable. I’m counting on the fact that people won’t understand how to play the game well enough to notice when things go wrong.
Still to do:
* Make a cover for the iMac I’ll be using in the show.
* Maybe make some kind of poster/graphic that describes each pod and his special moves, etc.
* Make a holder for the pods when they aren’t in use.
* Fix as many bugs as possible.
Project: Battle Pods | link | 0 Comments
Battle Pods Controller
December 6, 2005 09:48 AM
I spent 3 full days this weekend creating the final controller for Battle Pods.
I ended up making it out of foam core again, but I found some sheets of thin black plastic at Plastic Land to cover it with so it looks pretty nice. The plastic combined with all the components give it a pretty hefty weight, so I don’t think you ever know it was made from foam core.
I cut up some pie tins to use for the metal contacts around the pod bays. This works better than foil, but I’m still having trouble getting the pods to make good contact. I think I’m going to have to use springs or weights or something to keep them firmly in there.
I decided to use multicolored buttons for the moves so they can be color-coded to each move. In order to get all 6 colors I had to use slightly larger buttons than I had on the prototype. The new buttons have a click action that feels much nicer than the older mushy feeling buttons.
All the colors do make it feel kind of disjointed (as opposed to having all one color for each player). I think this will be better once I get the overlays on. I can tie each side together with color again (blue & yellow).
I accidentally fried one of my super-strong magnets. It got a little too hot and now it’s very very weak. Who knew?
I wired up the lights for the Ready and Battle buttons too.
And despite all the Xacto blades and razor sharp pie tins, I only cut myself once!
Still to do:
- Create all the graphic overlays and button labels.
- Add weights and/or springs to keep pods in place.
- Acquire new super-strong magnet.
- Acquire USB extension cord for the very very short serial-USB cable.
- Clean up the mess of wiring inside
- Finish the software!!
Project: Battle Pods | link | 0 Comments
Final? Postcard
November 30, 2005 12:38 AM
Please take a look at the final postcard and leave feedback either here in the comments or via the email list. I will be sending this to the printer Wednesday evening, and I’d like to get the A-OK from everyone before I do.
Project: Class Show | link | 1 Comments
Still Working
November 28, 2005 11:51 AM
Still working on getting Battle Pods into a finished, fully functional state. It seems like every week I am working harder on it and getting less done.
This week I’ve mostly been focusing on graphics and software stuff. The newest release of Processing (96) finally fixed the text-wrap bug that was really screwing me up. So I’m using that version and hoping the new fixes didn’t introduce any new problems.
I think I’ve figured out a system for pod recognition that will work. It involves two main contacts with the pod. One is a magnetic ‘plunger’ in the center of the pod bay. This plunger gets sucked up to a metal disk on the bottom of the pod when it is inserted.
The second contact is a metal ring around the edge of the pod bay. This makes contact with small metal contacts on the side of the pod. Inside the pod the two contacts are connected through a resistor. The different resistors in the pods will allow the software to tell which pod is where.
Now I need to figure out how to machine a metal ring of the correct size (foil isn’t reliable or pretty enough).
Last week I bought some plastic to use for the controller.
Project: Battle Pods | link | 0 Comments
Postcard
November 25, 2005 08:57 PM
Here’s my proposed design for the show invite: View Postcard
Project: Class Show | link | 0 Comments
Controller Prototype
November 7, 2005 08:07 PM
I built a prototype of my controller this weekend. It came out much better than I had anticipated. I think I can stick pretty close to this design for the final thing.
The main structure is made out of foam-core. I got some cool arcade-style buttons from Happ last week. They’re all wired to an iPac to send key-commands to the computer.
I accidentally bought red buttons instead of blue ones. I’ll have to swap those out when the blue ones come in (or maybe wait until I build the final controller).
Still to do:
Add pod recognition hardware. I think I’m going to try do this by placing different resistors in each pod. Then I will use a PIC to measure the voltage coming back from each pod bay. (Thanks Gavri for the idea).
Wire up the lights for the Ready and Battle buttons.
Build this thing out of wood or metal or plastic or something.
Project: Battle Pods | link | 0 Comments
Equipment List
November 5, 2005 12:18 PM
Here’s a list of equipment I will need for the show:
- Computer
- Monitor
- Possibly a power supply to run lighted buttons?
- Table (maybe coffee-table size?)
- 2 chairs or stools
- My game controller and pods
- Electrical outlet to plug in items 1 and 2 (and 3?)
- A mouse and keyboard during set up.
Let me know if I am forgetting anything obvious.
Project: Class Show | link | 0 Comments
Battle Cards Feedback
October 19, 2005 08:01 PM
Amit made me have the class play the card game to see what was so bad about it.
After playing the game for a while he reassured me that he actually thought it was pretty good. I’ll admit that it seemed to be going much smoother than when Karen and I played. I think it was helpful to have me kind of running the game (explaining rules, and performing most of what the computer will be doing in the actual game) while two other people played.
I’m still worried about the complexity of the game, but hopefully I will have time to fine-tune things once all the basics are done.
Project: Battle Pods | link | 0 Comments
Second Game
October 16, 2005 05:17 PM
In order to prove to everyone that my game would indeed be fun to play (a few people have expressed their scepticism) I decided to throw together a quick card-based version this weekend so that I could prove the merits of the gameplay before doing too much more programming.
Karen and I sat down to play the game this morning. It was immediately apparent to both of us that the game was NOT FUN.
I was optimistic at first that with a few tweaks to the rules and characters the game could be made better, but by the end I was convinced that the game was fundamentally flawed.
So I guess I’m starting over almost from scratch. I still want to keep the idea of the pods as an interface. I think that’s probably the best thing about what I’ve done so far. The game concept itself is completely up in the air at this point though…
Right now I’m thinking of a creature that you have to configure to complete certain tasks, or maybe a vehicle that needs to be equipped with certain powers to navigate obstacles in a race course.
Project: Battle Pods | link | 2 Comments