Xna Adventure Game Engine

My relationship with Linux has traditionally been rather negative, starting some ten years ago at university. The key combination of Shift+Insert would make the desktop of whatever particular distribution I was using crash, and thus a decade of mild distrust began.

So the World Cup was a bit of a noisy disappointment, but Read Dead Redemption saved the summer hiatus by having, in inimitable Rockstar style, quite possibly the best achievement ever.

I'd been aware of MonoXna for a few years, and had always known it as a dead project, so it was with some surprise that I saw that it had been quietly resurrected with some recent code submissions. I spent a good amount of time with it and had mixed results.

The good news is that I was able to get XAGE up and running after a few days. Similar to how Silversprite works, MonoXNA allows XNA games to be run without any dependency on the original Microsoft framework, allowing you to target new platforms (most notably Mac & Linux, and bodes well for future projects like MonoDroid).

The bad news is that neither audio or Texture2Ds seem to be fully supported. I'm sure it's possible to workaround some of these issues and I'll return to MonoXna again in the future when I have more time. Silverlight continues to be the secondary focal point for development. This is because playing the games through a web browser is still compelling and novel enough to devote time and effort to, and also because it's easy for me to develop & test. I don't currently own a spare machine for a decent linux distribution (and lack the space for a dual-boot, or even a large enough usb stick for ubuntu), and also I'm too perpetually poor to afford a Mac. Also, MonoDevelop curiously runs like dirt on my netbook.

Work has now finally been resumed on XAGE proper; my evening was spent adding support for running animations backward. This was to enable the little tramp in Ben Chandler's '!' to animate correctly:

I'm using this game as a test case to help me figure out a workable design for arrays, which will help when I go back to TGP. Incidentally, Zombie Cow's game for Channel4, Privates, has been released and bucks the trend of most edutainment titles by actually being rather spiffy.

I haven't completed a game since GTA4, so it is fitting that RDR is the first game in two years that has managed to sustain my attention despite the numerous obligations and distractions. It's a very pretty title that manages to be supremely well crafted and horrendously buggy at the same time. Just riding around shooting at wildlife is extremely satisfying. That probably makes me a bad person.

Here's a free tip on how to upset your significant other: Tell her that most of your happiest memories revolve around the World Cup.

Finally, by early-July I should be in a position to shave a whopping 12-15 hours off my weekly commute which will give me, amongst other things, more time to spend working on that pesky game engine thingy.

As tweeted earlier today by @thezombiecow, the super-secret AGS -> XAGE conversion project is Time Gentlemen, Please. Obviously this is massively exciting for a number of reasons:

More accurately, I'm actually working on the demo as a feasibility study and it's going pretty well. The ultimate aim is to get the full game onto Xbox Live. It's a huge amount off work but I'm confident it can be done.

Zombie Cow Studios are currently venturing into the third dimension, with some hand-holding from Channel4, in Privates (read the eye-opening press release here).

I've actively been working on a few others things that have helped development across the board (finicky things like handling GUI transparency). One is Ben304's mock RPG, Oceanspirit Dennis: Scourge of the Underworld. It's essentially a satire on JRPGs (at least, that was my interpretation). It has since spawned a number of increasingly peculiar sequels, all of which are brain-achingly canon.

An interesting diversion and XAGE's second full conversion - play it online here: http://www.clarvalon.com/XAGE/games/ODennis/

To quote the author: 'Don't play if you're looking for a rewarding experience!'

Ben has also recently open-sourced '!', his well-received comic-panelled, robotic rap-athon. You should all follow @ben_304 and ask him when he finds time to sleep.

With the recent release of Silverlight v4, Awakener has received a small but much-needed update:

These few changes make Awakener feel less like a clunky web app and more like the original AGS incarnation. I'd argue that it's even more intuitive as you don't have to worry about installations etc. Judge for yourself:

I've got a few more ideas for optimisations specifically for Silverlight but for now it's back to adding new functionality. Next up: Expressions.