Programming

(Originally appeared in Dev.Mag Issue 20, released in February 2008.) Perlin noise is the foundation of many procedural texture and modelling algorithms. It can be used to create marble, wood, clouds, fire, and height maps for terrain. It is also very useful for tiling grids to simulate organic regions, and […]

How to Use Perlin Noise in Your Games

25 Apr, 2009 in Development / Programming tagged fractal brownian motion / perlin noise / poisson distribution / procedural content by Herman Tulleken

This article originally appeared in Dev.Mag Issue 29, released in February 2009. Last month we covered some of the very basic ways of testing whether object A hits object B. But, while the techniques we covered could quite likely take you very far, you’ll inevitably encounter a time when they […]

Basic Collision Detection in 2D – Part 2

17 Apr, 2009 in Development / Mathematics / Programming tagged collision detection / explanation / intersection / issue29 / math / tutorial by Claudio de Sa

This article originally appeared in Dev.Mag Issue 28, released in January 2009. Almost every video game needs to respond to objects touching each other in some sense, a practice commonly known as collision detection. Whether it’s simply to prevent the player character from walking through the walls of your maze […]

Basic Collision Detection in 2D – Part 1

13 Apr, 2009 in Development / Mathematics / Programming tagged collision detection / explanation / issue28 / math / tutorial by Claudio de Sa

This article originally appeared in Dev.Mag Issue 28, released in January 2009. Many of you have experienced it. You go online, log into your instant messenger or e-mail account and receive a link from some excited friend saying, “ARARRRAARARR PLAY THIS GAME ASBFLARGAFAG www.insertrandomlinkhere.com!!!!!” Chances are it’s either an Internet […]

Flash for Free

2 Apr, 2009 in Development / Programming tagged flash / free / issue28 / tutorial by Nandrew

This article originally appeared in Dev.Mag Issue 2, released in April 2006. Wondering why your PC doesn’t play games so well anymore? Trying to decode the latest marketing-speak on the back of a game box? This series is designed to give you the knowledge you need to understand the tweaks […]

On the Back of a Napkin: Part 1

23 Mar, 2009 in Development / Programming tagged back of a napkin / explanation / graphics by dislekcia

This article originally appeared in Dev.Mag Issue 3, released in May 2006. Last week we went over some of the very basics of 3D graphics. This week we take a look at exactly what it is that vertices do for us and how they do it. We’ll cover some more […]

On the Back of a Napkin: Part 2

23 Mar, 2009 in Development / Programming tagged back of a napkin / explanation / graphics / issue3 by dislekcia

This article originally appeared in Dev.Mag Issue 4, released in June 2006. Now that we’ve got a solid foundation to work with, we can start looking at more relevant issues in 3D. This week we’ll explore the idea of texture filtering and why it’s a good thing. We’ll find out […]

On the Back of a Napkin: Part 3

23 Mar, 2009 in Development / Programming tagged back of a napkin / explanation / graphics / issue4 / texture filtering by dislekcia

This article originally appeared in Dev.Mag Issue 5, released in July 2006. Transparency effects in games are very important, not only because they make games look good, but also because they provide a unique set of problems and opportunities for smart designers to exploit. This is because transparency is implemented […]

On the Back of a Napkin: Part 4

23 Mar, 2009 in Development / Programming tagged back of a napkin / blending / explanation / graphics / issue5 by dislekcia

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