AlaskaJohn's Game Portfolio

Final Fight: Double Impact

2009-12-12T14:14:00.000-08:00

Final Fight: Double Impact (2010)
Company: Proper Games
Publisher: CAPCOM
Platforms: PS3, XBOX360
Language: C++
Graphics: DirectX/OpenGL

Final Fight: Double Impact is an emulation of two CPS1 games: Final Fight and Magic Sword. It is currently marked for release in April of 2010.

Numerous features were added to bring this 'old school' game onto modern consoles. These features allow for the game-play today's users expect, and I believe the most significant of these is "online co-op play", using GGPO.

Stay tuned to announcements by publisher CAPCOM for updates on additional features we've included.

Flock!

2009-12-11T10:14:00.000-08:00

Flock! (2009)
Company: Proper Games Ltd
Publisher: CAPCOM
Platforms: PC, PS3, XBOX360
Language: C++
Graphics: DirectX 9
Physics: ODE

Flock! was the first game released by Proper Games and the first published game I had a hand in developing. In October, Flock! received a 2009 BAFTA Scotland for 'Best Game'.

In Flock! you control a UFO, with the mission to heard various animals into the Mothership. It is a sandbox-puzzle-game, meaning that there are a variety of objects that your UFO can interact with, allowing for a multiple ways to solve any level.

Crop-cirlces, love patches, geysers, night predators, and more, Flock! is full of features we hope you'll love playing with as much as we loved making.

Moving Day

2009-10-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

Moving Day (tbd)
Company: Proper Games
Platforms: iPhone
Language: C++
Graphics: OpenGL

Moving Day is an iPhone game we are developing at Proper Games. Additional information may be available on request.

Lummox

2009-07-24T04:40:00.003-07:00

Lummox (2009)
Company: Proper Games
Platforms: PC
Language: C++
Graphics: DirectX

Lummox is the prototype of a game built for my Master's degree in partnership with Proper Games. More information is available by request.

Project Bradwell

2009-07-24T04:40:00.001-07:00

Project Bradwell (2009)
Platforms: Flash
Language: AS2

Another Flash game ... currently missing screen shots. To be added shortly. :)

Squirt

2009-07-23T10:39:00.001-07:00

Squirt (2009)
Genre: Match 3
Company: Proper Games Ltd
Platforms: Flash and iPhone
Language: AS2 and C++
Graphics: OpenGL (iPhone)

Squirt is an original game concept by Andrew Smith. I created the Flash prototype for him based on his designs and Geoff Gunning's artwork while working at Proper Games. I also created an iPhone prototype in C++/OpenGL.

While the company decided not move the project forward to full product, we still feel it is a fun prototype and have made it available for people to play and comment on.

The following is the game description in Smithy's words:

Squirt’s mate Gobble has eaten too many jelly beans! He’s gonna barf! Squirt leaps into action (and Gobble’s massive mouth) to sort out his tummy before everyone gets a rainbow repaint!

Players control Squirt, the eponymous hero of the game. Coloured jelly bean squares rise up from below - the player must use Squirt’s unique ability to suck the colour out of one block at a time, and then inject it into another, to destroy them before they reach the top of the screen. Create combos, fight against time and the inexorable push of jelly bean blocks from below, and set high scores!

Play Squirt Here

3D Dominoes - PC

2009-07-23T04:23:00.003-07:00

3D Dominoes (2008)
Platforms: Win32 and PS2
Language: C++
Graphics: DirectX 9

The games were developed as second semester projects in my Computer Games Technology course at the University of Abertay Dundee in February - April of 2008.

Pile, John - UAD CS1123A Project Report (Dominoes 3D Postmortem)

The above link my project report for the DirectX version. The following excepts should give an idea on the content you’ll in in this report:

“I have held off developing a hard version of the AI that involves a weighted analysis of probability because game testing revealed something more important. I soon discovered that although I had developed a competitive AI, I had not yet addressed the other original goal of my AI design, specifically “interactivity”.

Interactivity was based less on research, and more from personal experience. I knew I wanted the AI to provide an auditory response, but one that did not seem repetitive. I knew that I wanted the AI be a ‘pleasant’ opponent and thus demonstrate happiness when scoring.

These ‘personal touches’, became as important to the gameplay as the logic and I believe demonstrate that computer games are not strictly about hard-science problem solving.”

“Finally, I think I should mention that I approached this coursework with a few secondary goals in mind. First, I did not want to create another ‘FPS’, ‘Spaceship’, or ‘Racing Game’. I felt that there was very little for me to gain by attempting to create another game in these genres. For each of these, the gameplay is relatively straight forward and very little can be learned that hasn’t already been covered in depth by many others before me. And second, I did not feel that given the resources at my disposal and the time available that I could make a complete game that would stand out. I believe that this is something that I have accomplished be taking the route I chose, at least so far as demonstrating the possibilities of exploring a new spin on a traditional game.”

I hope to provide a downloadable version of the game in the near future.

3D Dominoes - PS2

2009-07-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

3D Dominoes (2008)
Platforms: PS2
Language: C++
Graphics: PlayStation VU2

This game was developed as second semester projects in my Computer Games Technology course at the University of Abertay Dundee in February of 2008.

The Ant Game

2008-07-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

The Ant Game (2008)
Platform: Win32
Language: C++
Graphics: Ogre3D
Physics: PhysX
Audio: OpenAL

'The Ant Game' was a group project during my MSc at the University of Abertay, built using the NXOgre game engine (Ogre3D for graphics, Aegia PhysX for physics, and OpenAL for audio). My primary responsibility in the group was movement and AI, as you can see in this early development video.

There are a lot of lessons that you can learn by grouping together five programmers (and no artists) ... all from different countries ... and all still learning. This game is one of those 'lessons'.

KataMarble

2007-07-23T04:22:00.000-07:00

KataMarble (2007)
Platform: Flash
Language: AS2

KataMarble is a game I wrote in about 25 hours during the early days of the summer 2007. It is also a Flash game, and you can play KataMarble here.

The goal was to create a game prototype based on the concept behind Namco’s Katamari that could be played on a mobile phone. I was applying for a job at Namco Networks America, and I hoped (in addition to being a great learning experience) this would help me get the job.

To make a long story short, I’m not working for Namco … but the guys there left me feeling like they would have hired me if the boss had not decided to dissolve the position I was applying for.

The highlights of the interview process were two fold. First, after the phone interview was over, the guy told me I was the “most articulate person he had ever interviewed", and second, they followed up with flying me down for an on-site interview. The people there were great and although I am disappointed that I’m not currently employed with them, it did encourage me to believe that I could make a career doing what I love!

Through this, I learned more about game design (especially thanks to feed back from the guys at Namco Networks). I also tried some new user interface ideas, and had to face some challenges (which have never been completely resolved) related to collision detection with a tool like Flash.

Pirate's Blood

2007-07-23T04:20:00.000-07:00

Pirate's Blood (2007)
Platform: Flash
Language: AS2

Pirate’s Blood is a Flash Game I wrote in January of 2007. It is available online, and you can play Pirate’s Blood here.

I don’t remember exactly how I got the idea to create a pirate game, but I do know that as soon as I started working on it the idea just sort of exploded. It inspired me to read a bunch about pirates, although the stuff I learned never made it into the game.

The game play is pretty simple, but I think fun and different. The goal is to sink ships and then collect the treasure before it sinks to the bottom of the sea.

There is also a back-story for the game that I also never introduced. Someday when I polish the game off it will be something I add.

As this was my first Flash project, I learned a lot, but not just about Flash. I experimented with different user interfaces and you’ll find that the advanced ships actually have a successfully implemented AI.

Euphoria / Nevermore

2002-07-23T05:07:00.000-07:00

Euphoria/Nevermore (2002)
Platform: Win32
Language: C++
Graphics: OpenGL
Audio: fmod

In 2002 after completing a 3D graphics class, I began work on a new game engine (Euphoria). In March 2006 development resumed. The project was renamed the "Nevermore Game Engine".

At the same time, I have begun activelly redirecting my career path toward the video game industry.

Search 2001

2001-07-24T02:57:00.000-07:00

Search 2001 (2000)
Platform: Win32
Language: C++
Graphics: DirectX 7

After reaching the limit of what I was capable of doing with Turbo C++ and the Borland Graphics Interface on my MS-DOS computer, I pooled some money, purchased a new computer, and began work on a new version of my game, this time with an upgraded operating system (Windows 98) and an upgraded development environment (Visual C++ and DirectX 7).

I found that with DirectX, many of the things I wrote on my own before were already packaged in the tools. I could make icons using bitmaps using bitmap editors, and they in turn were easily imported using DirectDraw. I could use DirectSound to play sounds instead of hard coding the pc speaker with frequency and delays.

I had also previously been working only in very low resolution (320x200), but I spoke to a guy who was a 'real' game developer ... and he told me that modern games needed to run in at least (640x480). Of course that meant a lot more artwork on my part, which filled up the programming time I had saved by using DirectX.

It all went very smoothly at first... and I was very proud with what I was creating... ...that is, until I played the demo of a game that would run on my new computer ... Thief: The Dark Project.

Wow! What an incredible game! The concept was new, the graphics were amazing... but I had no idea how they did any of it! There I was, thinking that with DirectX 7 I was finally catching up to the game industry, only to find that I was actually years behind.

What else could I do? I talked my way into a 3D graphics course at my local university.

And so, "Search 2001" died before it was more than a few months old.

Meteor Blast

2000-07-23T04:19:00.000-07:00

Meteor Blast (2000)
Platform: Win32
Language: C++
Graphics: DirectX 7

It was the spring of 2000, my final semester of undergraduate degree, and DirectX 7 was brand new.

I had been hearing a lot about DirectX, and decided it was time to figure out how it worked. I was new to the win32 programming environment, I didn’t know C/C++ very well, and I had only recently acquired a computer modern enough to run Windows 98.

So what did I do? I applied to work at a game programming company. The company provided me with a programming “test” … I suppose, to weed out the idiots like myself. The test took the form of a game programming project: “Use DirectX to make a game using the provided bitmaps.”

So I drove to a big bookstore in Pittsburgh (you couldn’t find any DirectX 7 books in northern West Virginia), and purchased Teach Yourself DirectX 7 in 21 days. Five days later, Meteor Blast was the result. (It wouldn’t have taken nearly so long if they didn’t leave out a critical piece of code in the book. I learned a valuable lesson about first editions of books, but that’s another story for another time.)

Well, I submitted my program to the company. I had really pushed myself on the code, using some of the cool object oriented stuff in C++ that I’d never used before. The owner of the company told me that there were a few things that he would recommend for changes, but seemed to like what he saw. He said he’d call me back.

When I called him a week later to check up, he said they were going through some structural changes and weren’t sure how soon they would be able to hire me. I never hear back from him.

But I had succeeded. I had taught myself DirectX, and won a qualified approval from a guy in the game industry.

I should mention that this was just DirectX, not Direct3D. At the time, 3D was a strange and crazy world… and scared me to death. Scared of the overwhelming concept of 3 dimensional programming. The time involved and my lack of understanding … yes, another lesson.

Search 2000

1999-07-23T05:04:00.000-07:00

Search 2000 (1999)
Platform: Win16
Language: Borland C++
Graphics: BGI

The first version of Search was purely experimental, and I felt a great success. Now that I had proven to myself that I could create a graphical RPG that would impress my friends, I wanted to raise the stakes.

The year was 1999, and it was clear that the first version of Search was about eight years past it's marketability. So, Search 2000 became my next big game experiment.

I knew I wanted to break out of the memory and graphics limitations I was facing with Turbo Pascal on my 386. I moved to overcome this by writing the follow up to Search in Turbo C on my new extremely inexpensive Cirix 300Mhz PC.

I made two major user interface modifications. The first was to increase screen resolution. The second was to move from a top-down 2 dimensional world to an isometric "two-and-a-half dimensional" (2D with overlap and transparency) world.

I was still using the Borland Graphics Interface on a 16 bit DOS platform and the increased resolution combined with the overlapping of graphic tiles required that I come up with some unique solutions to a quickly slowing 'frame-rate'.

At the same time I was also learning quite a bit about modern game writing tools. As a result, it wasn't long before I realized I was fighting an uphill battle. The smartest move I could have made was to scrap 16 bit and BGI all together and switch to the modern world of Windows 9x and hardware accelerated graphics. So that's exactly what I did.

Thus, Search 2000 died.

Search

1997-07-22T04:44:00.000-07:00

Search (1999)
Platform: Win32
Language: Turbo Pascal
Graphics: BGI

Inspired by Ultima IV era games, this is Search a 2d RPG game I wrote in college. It comes complete with villagers to chat with, shop keepers to sell equipment, monsters to battle, towns, castles, and pirate ships!

It is a turn based RPG that even includes hard coded PC speaker sound effects and music. The only thing it’s missing is a plot!

I wrote Search in the late 90s, just to see if I could.

I had quite a few ideas of things that I wanted to do with a game if I ever got around to writing one. This was an experiment to see which of those ideas were really feasible. I also wanted to make the code efficient enough so that the game would run on an old computer like the one I was using. As a college student, I just couldn’t afford to replace my 386sx-16Mhz.

This game is the result. It was written in Borland Pascal and took about 4 weeks of my free time between college classes. It was a very educational experience, but more than that it was an absolutely wonderful way to spend my free time.

I had so much fun writing it, and I would encourage anyone who is thinking about writing a computer game to just go for it.

About the Development of Search:

I wrote Search using the procedural language of Pascal while making use of the Borland Graphics Interface (BGI) available withing Turbo Pascal. The icons (or sprites) were created in my own icon drawing/editing program which consisted of a full screen display of the icon with a 2x2 tiled mini “real size” version in the corner. Using the arrow keys to move between the enlarged pixels, I created each icon literally “one pixel at a time". The resultant file type was my own binary bitmap like creation, although it did not follow any standards.

The game maps for the countryside and villages were edited as a text files where each character represented a space on the map. Different letters stand for different “game pieces".

The NPCs are also controlled/edited by a text file which defined attributes like: name, image file for icon, starting location, range of movement. Additionally, each NPC had a series of questions that the player could ask the them along with the NPC’s answers.