Book podcast
Things have been really busy over the last few weeks. I’m busy making edits to the book based on the tech reviewers feedback which has been excellent. I’ve also been working on the Particle Designer which you will have seen me post about on the blog. I was also asked by my publisher, Addison-Wesley, to create a short podcast about the book.
While it was a little odd being in front of the camera it was fun to do and you can check it out here.
I’m planning to put SLQ up for approval with Apple by the end of the month so that I can get it through the review process and deal with any issues that may come up. As soon as I have a release date I’ll let everyone know so that you can all grab a copy and have a play.
Anyway, I need to carry on with the editing, so enjoy the podcast and I’ll be posting soon with information and hopefully a beta copy of the Particle Designer.
Mike
13 Comments
nexus6 on March 22nd, 2010
Nice job Mike. I’ve gone through some of the book
and all I can say is WOW! There’s definitely a lot
of differences between the original tutorial code
and SLQ. Can’t wait to see the particle emitter designer. That will make life a lot easier.
Thanks again for everything Mike.
mike on March 23rd, 2010
Thanks guys.
@Scott, the answer is yes, I hopefully going to be doing a more advanced book that covers 3D and more advanced topics. This would be in the same style so covering the creation of a complete game from start to finish. I’ve not worked on the outline yet, but I would hope to include things like 3D graphics, shaders, networking etc, so watch this space :o)
@nexus6, there are a lot of changes and improvements to the code from the tutorials. I’m hoping to get out a the beta of the Particle Designer by the end of the week.
Mike
Nick on March 24th, 2010
Have finished reading all the chapters available on Rough Cuts, so I have an idea of what a huge task it must have been to write this book. Congratulations Mike, looking forward to the remaining chapters when they are ready.
Simon on March 29th, 2010
In what chapter of the book do you cover off the creation of the heads up display in game.
Simon on March 29th, 2010
It’s fine I’ve looked through the code, I see how you’re doing it now :-). I wondered if you’d had the opportunity yet to submit the game itself to the app store?
mike on March 29th, 2010
Hi Simon
Not yet, I’m hoping to send it up for approval in the next week or so. I’m just playing with some last minute details and changes I’ve made so it still matches the code in the book.
Mike
Simon on March 29th, 2010
I just wondered, as I’ve yet to go through that process and would love to hear about any issues you have.
Any chance you plan to video the submission process as you go through it? I know Apple has vids to help you do this, but, I don’t know, I think it’ll be quite a special occasion (for you at least), one you might enjoy sharing.
:-)
mike on March 29th, 2010
Hi Simon
That is a great idea :o) I’ll look to record the moment as you say as it may be useful to others when putting their apps up for approval and your right, it will be a big moment for me too :o)
Mike
Simon on March 29th, 2010
I’m just full of them ;)
jswilly on March 31st, 2010
You are my idol Mike! … one thing I don’t know yet is how to animate an sprite with multiple animations like for instance the main sprite in the game ‘sword of sodan’ from the amiga times ;)…also for example do an sprite to shoot bullets or rays etc…congratulations for your book.
mike on March 31st, 2010
Hi jswilly
For the animation you would define a different animation for each set of frames. Depending on what the character is doing would then define which of the animations should be used and rendered.
As for shooting bullets or rays, you would normally create a new object when a bullet/missile is fired that is responsible for rendering the missile and controlling its movement.
That is a very short answer but hope it helps.
Mike
Scott on March 22nd, 2010
Nice job, Mike. I can’t wait to get the finished product in my hands. Could there be a second book in your future?
-Scott