Programming

In November 2013, two colleagues* and I made 30 games. Although I have done some game prototyping before, working on so many games in such a short period gave me some insights I did not have before. As I said to a friend, it’s like watching a television series in […]

Rapid Game Prototyping: Tips for Programmers

8 Jan, 2014 in Development / Programming tagged rapid prototyping by Herman Tulleken

This article gives a set of algorithms for choosing colours procedurally.

How to Choose Colours Procedurally (Algorithms)

29 Jul, 2012 in Development / Programming tagged algorithm / colour / palette / procedural content by Herman Tulleken

This article looks at common errors that can be made when implementing Perlin noise, and give systematic tests to verify for the various steps in the algorithm.

Implementing and Debugging the Perlin Noise Algorithm

25 Jun, 2011 in Programming tagged algorithm / debugging / implementation / perlin noise by Herman Tulleken

This tutorial provides some algorithms useful for working with Bézier curves: determining the length of a piece of curve; interpolating a set of points with a Bézier path; and reducing a large point set to a smooth Bézier curve.

Bézier Path Algorithms

23 Jun, 2011 in Mathematics / Programming tagged algorithm / bezier curve / bezier path / curve length / interpolation / sampling by Herman Tulleken

Box2DFlash Tutorial

27 May, 2011 in Development / Programming tagged 2d / actionscript / as3 / box2d / box2dflash / flash / physics by Ricky Abell

A Bézier curve is a type of curve that is easy to use, and can describe many shapes. This guide gives instructions for implementing algorithms for using Bézier curves in your games.

Bézier Curves for your Games: A Tutorial

5 Apr, 2011 in Development / Mathematics / Programming tagged algorithm / bezier curve / bezier path / path / racing line / vector mathematics by Herman Tulleken

This article gives a brief tutorial to XNA, a set of game development tools from Microsoft. The tutorial covers the basics of drawing a sprite, playing sound, and handling input.

Starting Small: XNA Framework Guide

8 Mar, 2011 in Development / Programming tagged c# / starting small / tutorial / xna by Ernest Loveland

Quadtrees are 2D data structures, useful for efficient representation of 2D data (such as images), and lookup in a 2D space. This is a simple implementation tutorial.

Quadtrees: Implementation

23 Feb, 2011 in Development / Programming tagged 2d compression / image compression / issue26 / quadtree / spatial data structure by Herman Tulleken

This article shows how to implement a simple graphical logging system to find errors in physics, AI and animation faster.

Using graphs to debug physics, AI, and animation effectively

9 Feb, 2011 in Development / Programming tagged graphical debugging / javascript / log / logging / regression testing / tools by Herman Tulleken

Text files can be messy when logging events from games. In this article, Herman Tulleken shows you how to use HTML, CSS and JavaScript to build visually informative logs that make debugging easier.

Make your logs interactive and squash bugs faster

25 Jan, 2011 in Development / Programming tagged css / debugging / html / javascript / log / logging / performance / testing / tools by Herman Tulleken

I have a weak spot for cool game development tools. Not the IDE, or art or sound tools – I mean the level editors, AI construction tools – those that developers develop specifically for their games. Those that you know could help you multiply your content, and craft your game […]

Guerrilla Tool Development

23 Oct, 2009 in Development / Programming tagged tools by Herman Tulleken

Welcome to the Starting Small series. The aim of this series is to take a programming language that you hopefully know a bit about (enough to feel comfortable using) or that you want to try out and show you how to use it to make games. The language that this […]

Starting Small – Python and Pygame

15 Aug, 2009 in Development / Programming tagged pygame / python / starting small / tutorial by Ernest Loveland

This article originally appeared on NAG Online. Code in Python, go to outer space. A simple process, really. Do you really, really want to become a game programmer? Do you really, really have no idea how to start? Try some Python! This easy and simple programming language is not just […]

Easy Programming with Python

5 Aug, 2009 in Programming tagged introduction / python by Nandrew

We have used tiles to decorate our living spaces for more than 4000 years. Tiles have several properties that make them attractive for use: they can be mass-produced; they are easy to build with (because of their geometric properties); and combinations of tiles lead to a huge number of decorative […]

Getting More out of Seamless Tiles

28 May, 2009 in Development / Programming tagged seamless / tiles / tutorial by Herman Tulleken

This article originally appeared in Dev.Mag Issue 21, released in March 2008. One way to populate large worlds with objects is to simply place objects on a grid, or randomly. While fast and easy to implement, both these methods result in unsatisfying worlds: either too regular or too messy. In […]

Poisson Disk Sampling

3 May, 2009 in Development / Programming tagged graphics / issue21 / poisson disk sampling / tutorial by Herman Tulleken

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