Finished: TGB October Challenge
by Steven S · 10/31/2007 (9:21 pm) · 5 comments
In my previous blog I mentioned how I was going to challenge myself to learn one new thing about TGB each day.
I completed the challenge tonight! The end of the month. Phew! I never felt like giving up, but towards the last week or so, I got to the point where things I wanted to learn would require me to span more than one day, so I needed to find little tiny things. Like one night I just looked at how to change the name of the game window.
All in all, it was a terrific success. By the end of the month I was able to actually help on a game (created in two days) with a team of other TGB owners. This project allowed me to use what I've learned this month on a 'real' game. It showed me that I am really learning this stuff and I certainly felt some accomplishment.
Yesterday and today I have started to convert a game I wrote in C# with SDL.NET over to TGB. It's going well so far and is quite fun.
Below is a synopsis for the month:
October 1, 2007 (creating new Project, adding resources, camera overview)
October 2, 2007 (creating a tilemap, defining collision blocks, adding a player sprite, adding a behavior)
October 3, 2007 (world limits, mounting the camera to player)
October 4, 2007 (activating tilemap and player collisions, limiting camera view, creating a new behavior)
October 5, 2007 (adding enemy turret, enemy AI shooting a projectile, naming objects, damage related behaviors, using layers)
October 6, 2007 (behavior callback research, bunch of behavior research/study, pushing an object in the game)
October 7, 2007 (adding health item, starting to use TorqueScript: onLevelLoaded and onCollision)
October 8, 2007 (GUI Text Control, onLevelLoaded for t2dTileMapLayer, more TorqueScript)
October 9, 2007 (GUI work: button, text, MessagePopup, GUI Profile, updating a text control, more TorqueScript)
October 10, 2007 (Triggers, triggering loading of a new level, more TorqueScript)
October 11, 2007 (Link points, Mount object, give mounted object its own rotation, simple particle effect, read about Datablocks)
October 12, 2007 (Basic Pysics)
October 13, 2007 (Datablocks)
October 14, 2007 (Dynamic Fields)
October 15, 2007 (Transparency, fonts, and colors in GUI Controls and Profiles)
October 16, 2007 (Audio)
October 17, 2007 (Camera Zooming with mouse)
October 18, 2007 (adding a 2nd map layer, hiding the cursor)
October 19, 2007 (Resolving issues with 'Takes Damage' & 'Deals Damage' & Collision Layers, Creating a Portal Trigger Behavior)
October 20, 2007 (Fading In & Out)
October 21, 2007 (creating a Main Menu Screen with Start & Quit)
October 22, 2007 (HUD-like text output, rotate object by mouse)
October 23, 2007 (Paths)
October 24, 2007 (Custom Cursor)
October 25, 2007 (Setting the Window Title)
October 26, 2007 (Keeping track of health, helped a team build a TGB game)
October 27, 2007 (Finished TGB game with team, did something else but can't remember what it was)
October 28, 2007 (GuiControlListPopUp)
October 29, 2007 (Explosion effect when enemy destroyed)
October 30, 2007 (Learning CodeWeaver, Converting my 2D SDL.NET game)
October 31, 2007 (Continuing to convert game)
I completed the challenge tonight! The end of the month. Phew! I never felt like giving up, but towards the last week or so, I got to the point where things I wanted to learn would require me to span more than one day, so I needed to find little tiny things. Like one night I just looked at how to change the name of the game window.
All in all, it was a terrific success. By the end of the month I was able to actually help on a game (created in two days) with a team of other TGB owners. This project allowed me to use what I've learned this month on a 'real' game. It showed me that I am really learning this stuff and I certainly felt some accomplishment.
Yesterday and today I have started to convert a game I wrote in C# with SDL.NET over to TGB. It's going well so far and is quite fun.
Below is a synopsis for the month:
October 1, 2007 (creating new Project, adding resources, camera overview)
October 2, 2007 (creating a tilemap, defining collision blocks, adding a player sprite, adding a behavior)
October 3, 2007 (world limits, mounting the camera to player)
October 4, 2007 (activating tilemap and player collisions, limiting camera view, creating a new behavior)
October 5, 2007 (adding enemy turret, enemy AI shooting a projectile, naming objects, damage related behaviors, using layers)
October 6, 2007 (behavior callback research, bunch of behavior research/study, pushing an object in the game)
October 7, 2007 (adding health item, starting to use TorqueScript: onLevelLoaded and onCollision)
October 8, 2007 (GUI Text Control, onLevelLoaded for t2dTileMapLayer, more TorqueScript)
October 9, 2007 (GUI work: button, text, MessagePopup, GUI Profile, updating a text control, more TorqueScript)
October 10, 2007 (Triggers, triggering loading of a new level, more TorqueScript)
October 11, 2007 (Link points, Mount object, give mounted object its own rotation, simple particle effect, read about Datablocks)
October 12, 2007 (Basic Pysics)
October 13, 2007 (Datablocks)
October 14, 2007 (Dynamic Fields)
October 15, 2007 (Transparency, fonts, and colors in GUI Controls and Profiles)
October 16, 2007 (Audio)
October 17, 2007 (Camera Zooming with mouse)
October 18, 2007 (adding a 2nd map layer, hiding the cursor)
October 19, 2007 (Resolving issues with 'Takes Damage' & 'Deals Damage' & Collision Layers, Creating a Portal Trigger Behavior)
October 20, 2007 (Fading In & Out)
October 21, 2007 (creating a Main Menu Screen with Start & Quit)
October 22, 2007 (HUD-like text output, rotate object by mouse)
October 23, 2007 (Paths)
October 24, 2007 (Custom Cursor)
October 25, 2007 (Setting the Window Title)
October 26, 2007 (Keeping track of health, helped a team build a TGB game)
October 27, 2007 (Finished TGB game with team, did something else but can't remember what it was)
October 28, 2007 (GuiControlListPopUp)
October 29, 2007 (Explosion effect when enemy destroyed)
October 30, 2007 (Learning CodeWeaver, Converting my 2D SDL.NET game)
October 31, 2007 (Continuing to convert game)
#2
11/01/2007 (6:20 am)
Thats actually pretty cool! Congrats!
#3
11/01/2007 (6:53 am)
Great idea and kudos on staying the course a whole month! (Staying on task is one of my challenges, so a month is huge to me. ;) ) 
#4
Some of them don't function anymore because they used .htaccess files or an external script which are no longer there, but most of them are functional. It's fun and you feel like you've accomplished something at the end.
Now if only you could turn this info into a comprehensive guide for newbies to TGB.
11/01/2007 (9:58 am)
Nice. I did a 30-day experiment in Flash of just trying to program something every day for a month. Sometimes it was a new thing, other times it was a continuation of previous work. You can see them here: idler.deozaan.com/Some of them don't function anymore because they used .htaccess files or an external script which are no longer there, but most of them are functional. It's fun and you feel like you've accomplished something at the end.
Now if only you could turn this info into a comprehensive guide for newbies to TGB.
#5
Congratulations!!! :) I'm really impressed with everything you've learned, well done!
--clint
11/02/2007 (8:13 am)
Hey Steven,Congratulations!!! :) I'm really impressed with everything you've learned, well done!
--clint
Associate David Montgomery-Blake
David MontgomeryBlake
Very cool idea and an *excellent* way to learn!