Good software development books are hard to find. I’m always being asked which books I recommend so I thought I’d compile a list of my favourites. These are books every software developer should read. All of these books have made me a better programmer. The list covers everything from the basics of coding to agile development and architectural software development.
Do you want to learn how to make your own computer games? Not sure where to start? This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to create your own games for free using XNA. I’ve been asked by a number of people what the best route to take when learning to develop games. The following tutorial will give you a good start towards creating your first few games for PC and Xbox 360. I cover the software you’ll need, a list of tutorial both in C# and XNA and other helpful links.
Games take a lot of time and money to create. Many companies can’t afford this ever increasing drain on their resources, particularly independent game developers. Developers need to become more pragmatic in the way they developer their games. This article describes the steps we’ve been taking to focus on releasing a good game, in the shortest time possible.
Does the title of this article make you cringe? People have mixed feelings when it comes to C# and the .NET framework. Just like many hardcore game developers 10 years ago swore that games should only be made in straight C, many developers today say that C++ is the only way to go. This article outlines my reasoning for using C# for a commercial game on PC.
Steam’s having great success at the moment, with 40% market share making it the #1 platform for online game distribution. They’ve expanded from in-house games to publishing titles of all shapes and sizes (from Modern Warfare 2 to Osmos). I’ve always thought they were missing something, Steam Points. Steam Points would be to Steam as Microsoft Points are to Xbox. This entry discusses why this would be a valuable addition for Valve, developers, gamers and even retailers.
Have you ever thought about becoming an indie game developer? Has your game company just gone under, sick of working for publishers or do you just want to break into the games industry? Whatever the reason, one thing that rings true for all Indie developers is the goal of making a good game. A lot of friends in the games industry have recently made the decision to “go Indie”. I thought I’d write up my guide to becoming an indie game developer taken from my experience and the experience of friends both starting out and with completed independent games.
I’ve used a lot of scripting languages over the years when developing games. For my latest engine, I decided I’d use C# as the scripting language. I’ve been amazed by how well C# works as a scripting language so I thought I’d share my experiences. The technique I’m about to discuss gives game designers access to a fully-featured language and IDE with compile-time checking all while allowing run-time changes. I use run-time compilation to achieve the flexibility of a scripting language combined with the power of a .NET language.
Infinity Ward (IW), creator of the Call of Duty/Modern Warfare series are about to release Modern Warfare 2 (MW2). By now, you would have heard about their completely new multiplayer setup and the 160K+ petition for dedicated servers. In a podcast on bashandslash.com they interviewed Rob Bowling the community manager at Infinity Ward. I’ve gone through their chat with a fine toothcomb and picked out the facts. If you don’t have time to listen to the chat (over 2 hours) then the following notes should give you the facts as they currently stand. I’ll then give my opinion on this decision along with a solution.
I’ve been talking with a number of Indie game developer friends about what platform they should develop their next game for. There are a number of great platforms available to game developers and this choice of platform is critical to the success of your game. Many people have a game idea, but aren’t sure what platform is best for them, this article will help you in making that decision.
What is the best scripting language for game development? Every different game engine has its own scripting language making for a difficult choice. Game programmers have a unified language in C++ however game designers are left with whatever language their engine supports. I propose a unified scripting language that all engines/platforms can share.
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