Blog for James A. Burke at GarageGames.com

Friday Mar 4 9:27

James A. Burke — 2005-03-04T09:27:44+00:00

The pathfinding pain

Well, I've finally managed to get back on track with 'Death Of Freedom'. Several things have been added now and because AGDC is over, I can get help from outside of Australia (it's extremely hard to find a 3D artist in Australia that isn't after a full time job). Right now I am concentrating my time on the painful AI. The AI is easy enough (shooting, hand to hand, etc.) but the pathfinding, now that's a pain. I've been searching for a solution for about a week. I've looked at several tutorials but none are what I'm after. I hope to find a solution for it soon. Thankfully, I've had a high-er paying job to support this. The modelers are currently working on the main character and vehicles. It's slowly coming together. The levels have been put on paper (total of 20). We aim for a demo by the end of May which should have the AI, hand to hand combat, weapons and vehicles implemented.

The last thing that I'm thinking of is what to do with the damn $4000 free legal services. I was thinking of registering JAB IGP (www.jabigp.com), but I need more info on that and that is not my area.

Thursday Jan 20 11:11

James A. Burke — 2005-01-20T11:11:26+00:00

'Death Of Freedom' moving on again, getting ready for GID9 and a new Torque project!!!!

Well, it's been a while since I updated my .plan, so here it is:

After coming back from AGDC with 'Death Of Freedom' winning Hyne's Pitching contest, I thought I would pick up development on it fast... well.... I was wrong. It has taken me about a month to start continuing on with the project. Luckily, I've found an artist to work on it! I've also now added the vehicle code (which uses physics) to it. It's finally picking up again.

I set myself a goal for this GID--- use Torque right!!!! The first GID I did I *did* use Torque, I attempted to use it, but it didn't turn out anything like it was suppose to. But luckily, I've printed off a copy of EGTGE (I didn't realise how large it really is!) and have been reading it getting ready.

I have also joined the Apalia game: www.evilgamers.net/apalia and talked them into switching to Torque. The game looks a lot better in Torque then it did in A6. It's too early for screens and I don't run the project, so info on this area isn't my thing. But feel free to join the Apalia forum for some more info.

I've been tied up lately with some client work www.jabigp.com I didn't actually expect that much business, but it's turned out quite nice. I'm hoping to pick up a nice copy of Cartography Shop as QuArK is a real pain to use.

Tuesday Nov 23 5:22

James A. Burke — 2004-11-23T05:22:52+00:00

Prototype got into AGDC!

Well, today I got a very unexpected email. THe prototype I have been working on with Andrew Matsinos, Peter Wayne and Bobocop Entertainment got into the shortlist for best unsigned indie game at AGDC (www.agdc.com.au)!

So it looks like I'll be off to Melbourne, at the AGDC expo. If anyone's attending stop by and vote for the 'Death Of Freedom' ;)

Wish me luck :)

Wednesday Oct 6 12:38

James A. Burke — 2004-10-06T12:38:21+00:00

Yet another site re-design

Well, after several people telling me how crummy my old site looked (and how you could tell it was a programmer's ;) ) I finally got a chance to re-do it. www.jabigp.com I think it looks better, but still needs some work.

I've also started another project of mine. It's a 3rd person shooter bla bla bla. I'll speak more about it when I finish this level and can show you some nice shots ;)

Sunday Sep 12 8:49

James A. Burke — 2004-09-12T08:49:32+00:00

JAB IGP is up!

My new site (same old design :D) is finally up after switching to gamedevhosting.com

The site's address is www.jabigp.com
... and the JAB IGP: Designs address is: www.designs.jabigp.com
.... and the JAB IGP shop (don't really have a reason for a shop, but hey, it was there!): www.shop.jabigp.com
..... and the forum is: www.forum.jabigp.com

I would appriciate some feedback ;)

Wednesday Sep 8 7:09

James A. Burke — 2004-09-08T07:09:32+00:00

A video of Line Of Control

Here is a video of Line Of Control (previous .plans). This was created by Cold Shock Studios (www.coldshock.com) and I did the programming only, none of the art ;-). It was created using the A6 Engine from Conitec Datasystems: www.conitec.net

http://www.networktronics.com/coldshock/locsept.wmv

Tuesday Sep 7 9:59

James A. Burke — 2004-09-07T09:59:27+00:00

Some more screens

From my previous .plan, here are some more screens of the upcoming game 'Line Of Control', by Cold Shock Studios (www.coldshock.com). Remember that I only do programming on this, and so, none of this I can take credit for (as programming is not really visible ;) ). These shots are early and the weapon models have been replaced since.

Sunday Sep 5 3:45

James A. Burke — 2004-09-05T03:45:07+00:00

Finally some shots of the game

Finally, some shots of the game I have been working on (by Cold Shock Studios) - www.coldshock.com) have been released. These are very early shots.

The game has the follwing features.

1. New Location (India) i.e. Indo-pak border.
2. Real-time physics (crates,cylinders etc).
3. Battle on the highest battlefield on earth :Siachen
4. 10 levels of medium to large areas.
5. Shaders to a small extent as this will also go to mid-low level PC's also.

Here are the screens.

Saturday Sep 4 11:05

James A. Burke — 2004-09-04T11:05:53+00:00

Website change over soon. Line Of Control coming along and a new hobby project of mine started.

I have just bought a bit of web hosting from www.gamedevhosting.com as my ISP's free one didn't supply enough space nor features. My site (currently: www.jabigp.tk) will remain the same design (for now at least), as I don't have too much time to re-do it. I could use some suggestions for a new design, but it will do for now.

The main game I have been working on is Line Of Control, being developed by Cold Shock Studios (www.coldshock.com). The game is coming along nicely with some screens hopefully to be released soon (very soon). For more info on Line Of Control visit: www.coldshock.com

Finally, to finish off this .plan, I have started a new project of mine. This project is not really anything special but more of my hobby project. It's really just another FPS, but I'm a fan of FPS' and indie development is all about being able to make your OWN game ideas, not being restricted to the current market and the demand of the public (although, you could proberly earn some money by following the public, but then, where's the fun?).

Saturday Aug 14 21:11

James A. Burke — 2004-08-14T21:11:05+00:00

My GID entry

This weekend I participated in GID #5 along with Andrew Matsinos who acted as an artists for the day (although he made some good models, they were in the 5,000 polly count).

We started off using Torque, but then ran into a major problem (and because I'm still new to Torque and couldn't work out how to fix it) we decided to go with another game engine with 6 hrs left. This is what we came up with in that 6 hrs:

As for Torque, we got some very nice results (to me anyway ;) ).