S t a r t |
Diary |
Download |
Insight |
Questions? |
Food |
Links |
I m p r i n t |
Klick hier für die deutschsprachige Version. |
Here you can read about new stuff around the egg-O-shOOter. The new entries are at the top. If you like to read the story from the beginning, you have to start at the bottom. |
|
---|
The full version of egg-O-shOOter is available for free. Nevertheless, if you like to make a donation, you can visit the column 'Food'. The version numbers are 1l (Windows) and 1d (Linux). |
|
At the Linux-version the hobble-sound continued to play even if the panicbunny was hit. The problem is fixed and the newest version is by now 1c. |
|
During proof-reading some literal errors had to be corrected. The current Windows version is by now 1k, the Linux version is 1b. |
|
All sites of the Internet presentation are by now available in English language. |
|
I am working at the English version of the Internet presentation. |
|
Version 1a for Linux is online! The version number at Windows is 1j. During porting I fixed some more little bugs. |
|
The buffer problem is fixed and there are only a few things to be done. |
|
Some noises are comming out of my speakers, but a problem with the buffersize causes many interruptions. |
|
The Linux version is running but the sound is still missing. The 'Carneval' will stop the further development during the next days... |
|
Hunting bugs goes on, for now version 1i is downloadable. All menus at the Linux version are available, but the full version is still not working correct. |
|
During porting process some bugs where cleared - the current version is 1h. |
|
Today I was running egg-O-shOOter at my main computer operating with OpenSuSE 11.1 for the first time. That was really quick - a hurray to OpenGL. There are still many things to be ported. There is yet no sound implementation and just some menues are available. |
|
I corrected some misprints at the files 'themes.txt' of the full and free version. Selecting themes is possible via mouse pointer by now. Current version is 1g. I am working hard at the Linux version. The first errors appear at the last third when compiling with gcc... |
|
Just sit and wait is not the only thing I am spending my time with. The installer packages are downloadable, but I did not inform the world public about this fact. I want to test the download, installation and activation processes. I developed programs for generating bills and activation codes. I found out that the manual input of the serial number and the activation code is really troublesome. This can be done by clipboard by now. When changing the screen resolution, the mouse pointer disappeared - this bug is corrected. The current Version is 1f. |
|
The egg-O-shOOter is finally downloadable for all people out there! During a night shift I corrected a bug appearing at Windows Vista. The listing of directories did not work and because of that the game just started one time after installing. The current program version is 1e. I am waiting for some reactions from out there... |
|
A kickback was the criticism I reached today '... that is the whole game, Nobby? I've thought you had wasted one year to program that?'. Fortunately the criticizing person added that she was never really interested in computer games. At the evening I found another comment in my mailaccount: '...Funny little game :) The GUI remembers me of the times I was playing with my Amiga *g*. Of course I have shot a bird *s*'. So I decide to continue developing the game... |
|
The sounds of the second theme are complete and the proving starts. I was testing a lot today and implemented the display of the total gaming time. You should always be informed about the time you are wasting with gaming... |
|
I installed KNOPPIX 5.3 at a further developing computer. With the help of it I intend to port back the egg-O-shOOter to the Linux version. After installing the correct OpenGL driver I implemented a listing of the most frequent graphic drivers at the column Questions. The original Linux game is available for free download. |
|
I compiled the first installer package of the free version. It ist downloadable from a password protected directory. The circle of test gamers is growing. |
|
It's the middle of January and what have I done since December? The Documentation is decorated with many examples and the source code was overhauled once more. The systematic description of the game features confessed some bugs and many upgrades have been programmed. Thanks a lot to the little fly, which was hunted through the whole kitchen for creating the examples.. |
|
Okay, the 1st December has passed and the egg-O-shOOter is still not available - excuse me. If I have a look at the visitor statistics of my homepage I realize that this doe not displease the world public. Google & Co. have not been informed about the presence of my game and there are just some people knowing about my game development. Some very tough dig deepers are now members ot the game testers. Today I was working at a to me (and hopefully also the lawyers) adequate licence text. There is really not much work left to be done... |
|
When observing the game testers I realize that they need a mouse pointer to handle the selection menus - okay here it is... |
|
The documentation of the file 'themes.txt' is finished at it's raw version. Now I am integrating some examples. Game testing is continued... |
|
The documentation of the file 'themes.txt' still occupies my time. |
|
The documentation is growing day by day, but I notice that there is still much work to be done... |
|
I am reworking the source code and expand the websites. I am presenting some parts of the column href="einblick_e.htm">'Insight'. To keep the secrets I am just showing the chapter graphics. |
|
The domain names are reserved and the webspace is free for use. I am constructing the matrix of the web presence and type these words at my keyboard. Again some graphics have to be drawn... |
|
The game needs to be named. The German term for 'First Person Shooter' is 'egoshooter' so I decide to use 'egg-O-shOOter'. The domain names were still available and so the game was baptized. |
|
I installed the first pilot version at the computer of my dad to see if the program runs fine on his system. It worked and after a short introduction the ranking competition between him and my sister starts. The game seems to work as planned, because from time to time I can hear them laugh. I replace the graphic card of my developing computer by several models of my pool to see if they operate properly. I found a solution for all models. |
|
I decide to stop the programming of more features for now and to present the game to the world public. So just completing the code and uploading the installer. The many, many ideas being still in my head should be implemented later. This project should never be finished. There is always something to upgrade and all of you out there, reading this diary, should be able to deliver new ideas for this game. Just completing the code - easy to say, but time-consuming to practice. While testing the hit detection, many tears are spread and the (virtual) team spirit suffers. |
|
'Objects' are born. They were originally created as static items to decorate the fish tank, but soon they developed a life of its own. The function volume is booming for a second time. The second theme is almost finished. In my cellar I start creating the missing sounds. What was intended to be a side scene of game programming in my brain became a time-consuming thing. I wheeze, smash glass, am drumming at stones, play flute, plastic harmonica and the old trompet of my great-grandfather. After recording I had to spend many hours of time to cut and edit the sounds. My first deadline was already half a year before today - so what? To increase the game speed by reworking the source code took also a longer time than expected. The game should run on my developing machine housing a Celeron CPU with 800MHz and a 8MB graphics card. As a side effect the source code became somewhat more clearly. It is prospering under the sea. |
|
As an example for a new theme I start creating graphics for game number 2. I send Eggheart to a diving course. Together with the new graphics many new ideas are born an so the size of the sourcecode and the file 'themes.txt' is increasing. |
|
In conjunction with the number of the graphics the sourcecode it growing permanently. Originally the levels of the game just differed in game speed but now each level consists of a single shooting game. The file 'themes.txt' is embedded to the code to define the variables of the game. This file makes it possible to create complete different games without changing the source code. |
|
Now I have eggs, where birds are coming out, but nobody throwing those eggs. After some considerations the German nursery rhyme 'Ein Hund kam in die Küche' ('A dog came to the kitchen') came to my mind. Dogs - Eggs - Kitchen. Cook? Eggheart was created. It is the cook supervising the game, so that no dog or bird will be hit. I call Lilly, Jenny, Baby and Joschi for a casting. They have to bark and I have a photo shooting with them. With the help of those photos, GIMP and a lot of time (I am free of talent in portraying animals or humans) I replaced the bunnies by dogs. Barking dogs are the first sounds of the game. My cousin Ulrich plays the title song at his electronic piano. During the following weeks and months this song is always present in my brain... |
|
All Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies are eaten up and so I decide to kick off the bunnies. |
|
The functions of the game increase almost day by day and besides the original game the precision-shooting was created. Easter is over, but nevertheless targetholder-bunnies appear at the game. |
|
Nobody but me has been playing my shooting game. Originally it was intended to be spread as an attachment of my Easter greetings. Creating a small game was no big deal, but making it work for computer-muggles is a hard thing and so I could not keep the deadline. |
|
Being interested in graphics programming for many years I started learning this special field of writing source code. The tool of my choice was OpenGL - an open industry standard with plenty of documentation in the worldwide web. As an exercise I developed a small shooting game. Easter came near and so I created some bunnies throwing colored eggs. The picture shows a snapshot of the original version, still without bunnies. The graphics are still quite simple and it looks like a shooting gallery, which at that time was certainly intended. Learning the basic skills takes much time to prepare but on the other hand it is a great pleasure to be able to create new features for the game almost every day. For my first steps I used gcc running on a Linux machine. Later I used Visual C ++ in version 6.0 on a Windows computer. From the beginning I wanted to make the game running on both platforms. Up |