xenoclone :. blog :. xenoclone.com

busy but alive
Posted by Chris on 11/29/2007
No blogs for a while due to immense school pressure. A conference paper related to my MS thesis is due tomorrow. I've been cranking out results non-stop for over a week. It's been exhausting and taken virtually all time away from game dev. A few quick points:

This article explains fairly well why I'm interested in developing "xenoclone" games instead of something wildly original.

I'm working on a new project, outside of Mini-chess or Xeno Versus: Space Melee. Hint: it's browser-based.

(Related to previous point.) I've re-discovered all my old fabulous code. It's like I had all the right pieces, but the wrong usage. Dev for this project should be quick and not detract from other Xenoclone projects.

cold fusion supported once again
Posted by Chris on 11/19/2007
I have recently upgraded my account with readyhosting.com, such that cold fusion is supported again by the site. Thus, things like the Star Trek: Enterprise Power Rankings and reviews are back online. They won't be updated or supported further but they're available. :)

split screen update
Posted by Chris on 11/7/2007
Split screen has been updated:

two-way split three-way split

Next: an appropriate HUD to match!

internet explorer png issues fixed
Posted by Chris on 11/7/2007
The PNG transparency issues for this site's banner should be fixed. It turns out that Internet Explorer versions less than 7 cannot display transparent PNGs natively. A JavaScript fix is in place and works for most pages.

early split screen results positive
Posted by Chris on 11/6/2007
Here's a quick peek at the state of split screen:

no split two-way split four-way split

Obviously, there would be some additional HUD elements in the final version, such as a mini-map and health / power meters. Also note that each screen can be zoomed in-out by the player. The big problem right now, in my opinion, is that the current implementation of split screen doesn't allow for non-square splits. Thus, the two-way split screen has "tiny" screens instead of screens that fill the entire verticle space. Similarly, a three player game forces a four-way split. I am not sure how to fix this at the moment.

!@#$ blogger.com!
Posted by Chris on 11/6/2007

Blogger.com, temporarily used to drive this site's blog, now is consistently meandering onto my server and wiping out this page. The experience has been so lousy that I will, in fact, no longer use that service. For shame, google!

split screen: the long-awaited camera fix?
Posted by Chris on 11/5/2007

Over the weekend, I experimented with 4-way split screen for Xeno Versus. I'd long resisted this idea based upon the grounds that each individual screen subsection would be too small to be playable. But then, I thought, so what? Four players with a common camera often also resulted small ship sizes... to the point players lost track of their ships. An individual screen per player means losing ships is no longer an issue. Further, individual zooms for each player's comfort could be set. And, finally, how often is a person going to have more than one human player per computer? Most of the time, it will probably be a single player... so any split screen problems would be rare. Experiments thus far have been positive.

The next question: do I get rid of wrapping altogether, and instead employ some sort of "soft" boundaries instead? Look for testing, results, and screenshots later this week.

the project continues
Posted by Chris on 11/01/2007

Xeno Versus: Space Melee is coming along smoothly. I've recently modified the engine for slightly faster particle generation and sprite animation. I've also added a new button type which was key to adding in mouse support for selecting ships. The updated ship selection should be completed tonight.

The major issue reported by the beta testers was the camera. As it turns out, a Star Control style camera just isn't possible with four players on the screen at once. I now have a camera that matches Star Control's very closely. But, how to support four players? My current best option can be described as follows: a two-player game with four-player support. That is, only two ships can combat at once. Winner stays in. The loser gets replaced by another player in queue who's waiting to play. As I see it, this supports four players while keeping in spirit with a two-player game. Further, Star Control offered up matches of something like 14 ships per each player. Thus, having four teams of six (24 total ships) actually should be a faster game than two teams of fourteen (28 ships).

Speaking of speed, I've dramatically upped it. Ships and bullets now move faster. This too should decrease game time, which I felt was too long at an average of 15 minutes. Personally, I think 10 minutes per matchup is the sweet spot.

Blog Archive: October