We have a few other bits of news coming out of this meetup, so please keep in touch.
We would like to thank Jesse Harlin for his help in recording and mixing of the video.
The slides are available below: Continue reading
Tag Archives: Monthly Meetup
Monthly Meetup, December 12: Artificial Intelligence
There is a new game dev meetup coming this Thursday. This one is a bit more geared toward the technical side of game development in that is a discussion on artificial intelligence. It looks like it could be a great primer on the various theories behind the minds that control NPCs in games. It will be at the usual place and time on Thursday December 12. Come on out.
With all of the holidays and other things going on right now, we decided to merge November and December and meet in the middle. This month we will be having our very own Ben Van Treese speaking about all sorts interesting of AI topics:
- Pathfinding – basics of implementation & demo
- Steering Behaviors – Emergent pathfinding / movement & demo
- State Machines – Pulling logic from entities into modular states & demo
- Behavior Trees – A better way to modularize behaviors & demo
- Goal Oriented Action Planning – A way to allow emergent planning of behaviors for entities & demo
OK Game Developers Meetup: Introduction To Irrlicht 3D Engine By Dennis Ferron
Dennis Uses the Code::Blocks IDE:
http://www.codeblocks.org/
Irrlicht can be found here:
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/
Monthly Meetup: Introduction To Irrlicht 3D Graphics Engine
As a game programmer, I am always looking at new game engines for potential use in the games I want to make. One engine that I looked at long before I decided on my current engine was Irrlicht. This game engine is an open source 3D game engine with support for multiple operating systems.
Now, more people get the opportunity to learn about this engine and how it can be used thanks to Dennis Ferron and the monthly meetup.
This talk will cover using the Irrlicht 3D graphics engine with the GNU C++ compiler and the Code::Blocks IDE on Windows. I’ll give a short introduction explaining what Irrlicht is and why you might want to use it. Next I’ll play a short prerecorded or simulated installation and project setup. (Don’t worry about following it all; this is just to give a sense of how the setup goes. Links to downloads and instructions will be available after the talk.) I’ll spend the last part of the talk highlighting important parts of the code samples which come with Irrlicht and running the samples. A question and answer period will follow.
I hope to see you there.
Two Games Shown Off At July Monthly Meetup
Follow Divine Knight Gaming on Twitter: @dk_gaming
We will keep you informed on new developments in Oklahoma. We will also strive to have a better camera at the next event.
Visual Perception and You Presented By Dan Moyer
In this feature, Dan Moyer shares some really great tips on how to improve your games visual design. He shows a lot of the material in his slide show which I have uploaded as a PDF (Visual Perception And You).
One of the things I really took from this is the use of lighting and gray scale in your design. One tip Dan shows is to convert your game to black and white and make sure that you can clearly see everything as you want them to be seen. Along similar lines, he discusses the use of lighting to illustrate important points for the player. If you want the player to be drawn to something, make those areas are lighter and brighter than the surrounding areas. This technique also helps for focus between the foreground and background.
The whole thing is well worth a watch and you should really look through the slide show while you do it. I promise that next time I will have a way better camera.
Follow Dan Moyer on Twitter: @Daniel_Moyer
OK Game Dev Meetup: Visual Perception and You
At Last Month’s meetup, Dan Moyer showed off a game he had worked on in the past. That game had some really nice visuals and a great looking art direction. At this week’s meetup, July 25, Dan will be giving us a look into visuals perception.
Sometimes, there just aren’t enough lens flares to make a game look right. How is it that some projects need a billion artists, and others only need one? In this talk, I’ll discuss some basic technique that anyone can apply to make their game snap into place visually.
We can cover the basics of how the brain processes visual information, the underpinnings of art direction, and a bit of color theory. Perhaps there will be some pretty pictures, too.
This will be the main treat, but there will also be an opportunity to share your own work with everyone else present. So please try to make it and take part in the fun.
In Case You Missed It: OKGD Meetup Javascript Safari
Sadly, I was not able to make it to the latest Game Developer Meetup. Thankfully, there is a video of the presentation to watch. I have embedded it below. In this meetup, Jesse Harlin shows off Javascript and its use in HTML5 game development. It would have been nice to have been there in person for this one. We will post more when we get more information on the samples shown.
Additionally, Dan, a self proclaimed “Art Guy”, showed off a early rhythm game prototype he had worked on in the past. This is right around the 47 minute mark.
I hope you enjoy this. I really appreciate that Goldfire Studios is spear heading these gatherings.
Come For A Javascript Game Engine Safari
On June 27, developer Jesse Harlin will be taking Meetup attendees on a safari that will feature a variety of Javascript game engines.
This month’s meetup will be all about selecting a game engine. Jesse Harlin (organizer of OKC’s Javascript user group, OKC.js) will take us on a “safari” of Javascript game engines and the process of selecting one for your next game. Discussion won’t be limited to programming, so as usual, anyone from any side of game development is welcome and encouraged to attend.
I had an opportunity to talk to Jesse and Amanda at the last meetup and they have some very clever ideas. They even showed off a great platformer made in a Javascript engine as well. So I look forward to hearing what they have to offer. Web games are becoming an increasingly popular platform thanks to HTML5 and all the related technologies. If you want to get involved with that or are just interested in meeting other fellow game developers, come on out.
Game Dev Meetup: Goldfire Shares Its Kickstarter Secrets
Coming later this month on May 30th, Goldfire Studios will be the main event in the next game developer meetup. In this meetup, James and Luke will be sharing their experience in running their successful Casino RPG Kickstarter. That Kickstarter successfully reached its $20,000 funding goal on February 5, 2013. This will be a great opportunity to learn from someone who has been there.
I have seen a couple of other crowd funding projects from Oklahoma pop up but Casino RPG has been the only fully successful one. Come prepared to learn and ask questions and if you are doing something neat in game development, please be prepared to share.