After a few weeks of learning both C# and XNA, I’ve just about got The Tenth Crusade back to where it was, only running on both PC and XBox 360. Going this way is going to mean some changes, of course; I’m aiming for a January release, so the original design is being trimmed ever [...]

Sure, you’ve seen the scene before - but now it looks a little bit nicer…

It’s surprising what a little bit of lighting can do…

I’ve been beavering away on Target; 2008 for most of the last couple of months, and it’s been coming along reasonably - apart from this last week. Would you like to know why? Well, take a look at this here screenie…

Nothing you haven’t seen before, of course. Just a couple of dull-textured helicopters. What you [...]

With the back-end stuff all taken care of, things can move a little quicker as I write the actual game. Those of you with the installed version have probably already got this installed, but for those of you who prefer zip files, here’s Release 9.
For those of you who haven’t downloaded any of it, here’s [...]

Well, after a fairly productive week we’re at the point where we need some actual AI. And it’s here that we start making a significant break from Desert Strike.
In that venerable old game players were given a set of objectives to achieve on each of four levels. In this game the battlefield will be totally [...]

And about bloody time, eh? Default controls are WSAD to move, arrow keys to turn, QZOP to rotate the camera and right CTRL to fire, but you can redefine the controls to use keyboard, mouse or joystick. Controls aren’t saved yet, though that will change soon.
release8.zip (7.4MB)
Tenth Crusade (6MB installer, needs to check for updates [...]

…for a new release, that is. It’ll be totally overshadowed by the start of this year’s Retro Remakes competition, but still, it’s coming. Look! I even solved my stupid animation problem!

This release really is the toughest, though, which is why it’s taking so long to do it. I’m getting all the horrible, tedious back-end nonsense [...]

I love the idea of games that are playable by anyone, regardless of any physical disabilities. I mean, in a virtual world we’re all equal, right? Well, no, sadly. If you can’t operate the controls quickly (or at all) then you’re in trouble. You’re not an equal in a world you can’t hear or even [...]

So I’ve finally got around to linking in some memory management code, just to make sure that I’m not doing anything silly with all your gigabytes.
972 memory leaks found is not what you want to hear, ever. You especially won’t want to hear it when it’s your job to fix it all. Nine hundred and [...]

And let’s also celebrate Akismet catching it and dumping it straight in the spam bin! Hurrah!
On the game front, I’ve updated and completed the ‘launch’ program and will be having it tested tonight. There’s also been a bit of progress on the menu front; the controls are now redefinable! (And that’s a little bit of [...]