Bojkar's devblog | Michael Szczepanowski

Hello. A long time since I have not written here but it was small due to turbulence in my life. This was primarily to write engineering work, change work, creating a new project and the ending of course. But the more you write about in another entry.

Including a project that I created is www.e-notatka.pl. It is a service that offers to create and keep your notes on the web. Where did the idea for this project? With needs. Not once being somewhere away from home, I found an interesting link, whether it was leading an important conversation, I wanted to move to your home computer. Then I had to write everything on a piece (which unfortunately is gubiły later or simply could not be read and ) Or had to send these things to each other on email, which is not "elegant" and comfortable. I missed the online notebook for which I have access from anywhere in the world, no matter whether I will be at school, at work or outside the Polish border. All events and applications I designed and carried out the same (graphic design is the only author of the graphic)
The very idea of the project can not be innovative but his execution so. To create the application itself, of course, I used Adobe Flex'a. Applications leaned on the windowing system in which each note is a window that you can move, resize, minimize and maximize. In addition, the service allows you to change the color of the note, marking it as important (exclamation mark appears next to the title) and locked (padlock appears next to the title and until the note is locked, you can not remove it). It is also possible to share notes by sending a note to the e-mail or access the internet. What's interesting application is completely free and without ads. Take a look:
Website: www.e-notatka.pl
Demo: www.e-notatka.pl/demo/
Features: http://www.e-notatka.pl/mozliwosci.html

Plans? I already have some ideas but is not yet very much want to share them. This additional functionality will enhance the usefulness of the notes, and personalize your system. In addition, wants to create mobile applications that will allow easier addition and view notes from mobile devices.

Screenshots:

PS

Currently seeking media patron service, and a little publicity about it. So if you want to write something about the application on your site / blog and learn something more, please contact me.

Last naszło me to add the console to the engine, not any wypaśnej with thousands of commands and a simple console to view logs. Now, without leaving the application, I check the logs from the engine. When writing a console font support has come further. I was wondering on selecting the appropriate moments for me. Choice fell on a total of simple bitmapped fonts and FreeType. But I chose FreeType on the ground that the bitmap fonts I am a little dependent on the format of texture fonts, bitmapped fonts that is generating the various programs, their implementation would be different. It was possible to "zaprząść" xml file with ASCII codes of individual letters + their coordinates but then again I have to manually edit everything as it is not cool. FreeType is not too pink (for example, in the case of "customowych" fonts), but in my case more appropriate. Just that reads a regular font ttf, and I can write it on the screen. I used to implement FreeType'a library FTGL (http://sourceforge.net/projects/ftgl/). Pretty cool and easy to use API, which can draw as font textures, or even as a mesh.

The second novelty in my engine is sound support. Here, I used to OpenAL. The library is very nice (especially for opengl-men) to implement, well documented and is behind Creative'a. I wrote a small wrapper for their own needs, which supports WAV, s (OpenAL is ready to load function), and OGG files. OGG support himself had already written but it was really simple, for there are thousands of tutorials in necie on this issue. In addition, I was able to finally (never previously written) to implement a 3D sound, which gives a very cool effect. After the first test result, I was pleasantly surprised. Here we pay attention to small detail. How will one day implement the OpenAL 3D sound and you will not work, make sure that the sounds are in mono, because you lose out on a few hours and the pile of nerves

Not long I'll try to make some brief technical Demko and share.

Welcome to another large break. During this time a lot has changed. Due to the (unfortunate) studies starting in October I was back in white. Two months spent in the company "Game-Lion" I consider it very successful, this time played by "little" experience, I had to deal with two platforms (Wii and psp) and I met a professional game-deve "the kitchen" and I worked on One of the games of the company. Like I mentioned earlier, however, despite my desire, and Lion's Game-I could not continue to work there because studies as mentioned earlier (the biggest obstacle was the distance, otherwise the przeszedłbym absentia). Most of the time that I spent working on this game: http://game-lion.com/blockcascade.html. My job was to "port" of the game on the psp and add a few featuresów. But the same experiences, work and Szczecin will write another time. Currently, once I got back to the old company Cyber.pl (the "szmaciaków).
News'em second is that I managed to pull my engine into an engineering job, so I do not have to do some more "rubbish" in the context of that work. And maybe it will be an additional incentive to work on the engine Even so briefly about what was happening with me and did not appear long post which is longer and more technical treściwszy and above all I hope it will be less than the last time interval

Well, I managed to finally what I planned for a long time but I could never be picked up. Since yesterday, I plugged lua'ą enjoy. Thanks I finally separated from the logic of the game engine. I even rewrite the whole logic of the player on the script, and a large part of the engine. Luabind writes down here very well. Rewriting logic, only when a problem occurred, which is the argument of people opposed to the scripting languages, namely debugging. As for writing scripts in the "clean" it with lua debugging is not much of a problem, but again, such as podepniemy our own engine if a problem occurs. Fortunately, this is not as bad as it looks. With the help comes to us a program called decode (http://www.unknownworlds.com/decoda), which is very nice lua debugger. The program is fully graphical application (konsolówki "fuuuu), has its own very interesting script editor (indentation, syntax coloring and prompting, etc), Project explorer, and what we are more interested or debugger. It has such functions as breakpoint'y, call stack and output that is what is needed most. The principle of operation is very simple, create a new project exe'ka mark where we use our scripts, set the "working directory", press F5 (where we know it ..) and fires up our application, Decode itself reads scripts used in it and start debug. Same principle of a debugger is like as that in the visual, so there is no problem with the service.
In general, appreciate the program very positively, this is what I sought, is now writing scripts much easier. An interesting fact is that the application allows you to debug the console xbox360 and ps3. Unfortunately, the application is not free, but no amount is not what's surprising. Consolation is the price, which even in our country is not excessive. Indie license costs $ 50 while license "full" is already more expensive and no longer so low because the $ 400, but I think that for a large part of india license (for companies and individuals whose annual income does not exceed $ 100k) is sufficient.

Since I live in Szczecin in the evening I have some time and I can once again return to the engine. Since there is not long since I had looked a little "poodkurzać. A good start as the engine grows namespace'yi I added some methods to const'owe swapped. Next transformed my leciwą and light sputtering (but working!) Serialization. Now, instead of the several methods I decided to overload the operator <<(serialization), and>> (deserializacja) and this is a small archive manager. How it all works? First, of course, we must create a class archiwatora (ie, where we write / read data) implements the interface IArchive. Then we have the object of this archive (of course manager will ensure that that does not make 2 times the same archiver'a). Now we're ready to write it / read:

//serialize arch << someInt << someVector << someOther; //deserialize arch >> someInt >> someVector >> someOther; 

In addition, I added to the scripting engine. I decided on a very popular lua'e. Frankly same syntax the more I like it in the lua AngelScript but speaks of its speed and its popularity among gamedeveloperów. Lua'yz to call C + +, I used luabind library, which allows a very easy way to "zbindowanie" lua'y to C + +. Now, thanks to the whole logic of the game will fall to the script, and you can easily modify it without recompiling the code (also by third parties).
I managed to also add a class to handle keyboard and mouse. Now, in a very easy and accessible way I have to support these two devices at any location of the engine (and scripts). I plugged it already part of the PhysX technology, ie, character Controller and mesh cooking, I have yet to editor "to attain" the physical options for the actors.
At the moment I have been fine-tuning meanedżera serialization, finitely complete hooking engine lua'y, refactoring factory classes, and class to the sound and finally I will be able to take a renderer

Today at work I came upon a very stupid mistake on the starciłem few precious minutes. Maybe there was nothing to brag but it is worth attention. Added a to a certain module functor and wanted to test it like this (pseudo code):

void Init() { Functor<CFoo> func(&mFoo, &CFoo::foo); myObj->SetFunctor(&func); } 

Imagine my surprise when later I wanted to call my functora, of course, beyond the method Init () I wonder what happened to the func and a pointer to it after leaving the init? On usprawidlenie I can only say that the platform on which it was written did not use the visual debugger and you stuio external debug tool and is quite "heavy".

Another thing about which I want to mention is the difference in the speed performance of the pre-and post-increment. Once in some book I read quite an old book to use pre increment instead of post-increment, and that supposedly is faster. To this day a colleague asked me to emphasize this in my code so I decided to check it for example, the compiler of Visual Studio 2008 Express. I made a simple example (loop for 1000x made several mnożeniami and dodawaniami in the middle) and with the help of a colleague who knows the assembler zdeassemblorawalismy it. And as it turned out? Both codes are identical Maybe in some complex examples is some significant difference but with the usual forums and inkrementacjach at today's compilers and processors, there is no difference (at least I think so .

And failed, from 3 days sitting in a new apartment in Szczecin Since yesterday, the company operates in the Szczecin game-lion engaged in creating and porting games. Today passed my second day and appreciate it very positively. Lodging got far from the company and is 100m from the office so I have to work very closely. The first day flew all the formalities and configuration of the position, and so at the end of my position with ndev'em (Devkit to the Nintendo Wii) and an extra TV was ready:). With 2 days ago from working in a job where I always wanted to work professionally or in a game-Devi (to still have the ability to write to the console, where more in home conditions is not possible). At the beginning I was crumbling, and a lot of man pages doc'ów from nintendo but slowly embrace it, even today I managed to see something on the screen From today I'm working on one of the games on the Wii and I hope that little bit of my participation in it will be ...

Hello. Again, unfortunately, neglected last devblog and long does not appear here, no comment. I will not be bored here again, that lack of time and a full schedule only once turning to things. What happened recently? Little had happened, unfortunately, the big engine of progress does not regret what I did above. I managed to write only in the statistics window in the editor and manedżer effects postprocessingowych, quite simple but effective. How? At the beginning, of course, need to add some effects. To do this you need to make a single method where we give the name of this effect and the path to the fragment and vertex program. Like this:

m_postProcessing.Add ( "Bloom", "data / shaders / test.vp", "data / shaders / test.fp");

Then, in the method of rendering we need to add at the beginning: m_postProcessing.Begin () and at the end of m_postProcessing.End (). How to turn any effect? Just go "zbindowac" method "Bind", whose only argument is the name of the effect. The window that you see on the screenshot below is "very complementary", ie after adding effects to the window manager and will be available Zaaktualizuj effects, including the integration of the code is minimal.

For further news is likely from August I will be working in a new company, unfortunately situated quite far from my place of residence but it will be my first job in gamedevie, but not to the zapeszać talk about this in August, as we all will be certain.

Hello everyone. Long ago there was no alert, and probably some thought that even my devblog me bored. It is not true because it is a break was caused by a combination of several factors: session, cranchtime at work and groomsman at the wedding. It so happened that all of these things occurred at once, and I ate all the time (so this is like August in the week include the entire semester at college ).
The engine is a software thing, unfortunately I do not how and when to move but now I have more free time and is intended to build his engine. At first the fire going: the completion of the materials, the shadows (most likely shadow maps), water and the additional effects of post-processingowe (DOF, etc.). In this work all the time I finish a great system to support the fair, today crossed the magical code borders 1mb But it is encouraging that a large part of the module is already implemented (files, messages, etc). The project has already writing more than a month and during that time I must say that pureMVC flex and give advice, the MVC pattern make it easier to write this very large applications. With interesting, it was even asked by one of the lecturers to prepare presentations on the basis of game programming to meet the youth in our secondary schools. Even I managed to somehow make the presentations and deliver, and organize it to try to leave it here. Now I hope that the next entry will no longer "supported" some interesting screen from the engine.

Only after a while I noticed that the comment did not work. After a long struggle, I managed to fix it. So if someone added a comment earlier and did not see it on the blog, please add it again. Was guilty of anti Spam plugin, which was active and was not visible in the plugins tab. But, fortunately, managed to remove it. That's me behind