Truth Seeking through Game Making

In case you were sleeping...

2006-11-02T06:59:00.000+08:00

FireFox2.0 and Internet Explorer 7.0 are both out.

Iris wrote some interesting things about game characters in her blog.

Some other interesting Podcasts if you are into web 2.0 development.

Ruby on Rails Podcast - especially the interview with Glenn, Vanderburg.
Ajaxian Podcast- especially the interview with Glenn Vanderburg

or into technology entrepreneurship:

Venture Voice

Ruby on Rails

2006-11-02T06:14:00.001+08:00

... is GREAT. It is fun. It is the best way to write a web application. Get it here now! Ruby is a pure object oriented programming language that uses meta-programming (use programs to write programs)

Ruby on Rails (RoR) is a web framework built on Ruby that uses a modified version of the Model-View-Controller design pattern which every good programmer must know and use for User-Interfaced based applications - like a website and a game.

It includes a web server but you can also run it on Apache and IIS with some changes. I think it is not necessary to do that until you want to deploy.

If you use Windows and want to try RoR:

Download the Ruby for Windows Installer.
When you have installed it, start the command prompt and type: gem install rails --include-dependencies
To use MySQL with RoR, download the MySQL/Ruby driver instead of using the built in gem -install (assuming you already have MySQL server installed).

If you want a PHP framework that is based on the design of RoR check out Code Igniter. But seriously, you should take a look of RoR.

The Wikipedia article on RoR is a good introduction.

Check out BaseCamp and CampFire, which is done by 37 Signals - a pioneer in the concept of web 2.0 and AJAX.

Microsoft Firefox 2007

2006-11-01T17:45:00.000+08:00

System Requirements

Microsoft(R) Windows(TM)/Vista Operating System
Microsoft Office 2007, Firefox must run with Word and Excel.
2GB of DDR-3 RAM because of massive memory leak problems due to javascript hack.
1GB Hard Disk space.
Microsoft Paint - all bitmap files will be saperated displayed here.

COST: US$1, 000, 000 per license

Web 2.0 and Gaming

2006-11-01T07:03:00.000+08:00

There have been much hype on "Web 2.0" over the last few years and it has finally reached backward Malaysia. And I, being in Malaysia for two years have caught on the backward bug. I remember e-xiang talking about AJAX-based technology about a year and half ago but I didn't bother. Now Hatchlings Games is developing a prototype trading card game for the web.

So yeah, we are developing a trading card game. I can't tell you the details of the game yet but I hope you can see the alpha version live for yourself at the end of the month. Nevertheless, we are about 40% to alpha release. Zie Aun is doing concept and design. Iris, Kwang, Moy doing art & animation. Kuan is doing the flash client & java server. I am working on the web app and database.

But this post is not about Hatchling’s first game, but rather about the design (not talking about game mechanics design), technologies and the near future.

Combining Web 2.0 (think Google, Flickr, BitTorent, Digg) and online gaming means using the web as a complete platform to deliver entertainment. Think YouTube; which disrupted the entire platform for video publishing and distribution.

A game of the near future:

has the usual good gameplay, graphics, etc.
doesn't take longer than 10 seconds to load
allow for user expression and encourage emergence (i.e. Will Wright’s Spore)
has a fun underlying game mechanics but the game mechanics (not just the social element) becomes more fun as more people play it
is for everyone (blurring the line between the demographics)
is educational besides entertaining
is linked to other media

A Web 2.0 site:

is an attitude; let's blog, go google that up, tag me, subsribe to my feed
treats the web as a complete platform, filling in the space between the user's browser and the web's contents (by the user and other users).
is made up of small components loosely coupled together at the request of the user
's most valuable asset is its data that is generated by its uers.
allow content to come to the user rather than the user going to the content; like www.onelurv.com
is about participation rather than publishing and servers.
is made for more than just the web browser.
is in a perpectual beta; The Google / Open Source way, no scheduled release but rather: release early, release often.
is all about the user.

Web 2.0 IS about PLAY, so where are the games? Are you ready for the Web 2.0 Game of the near future?

Lastly, if you haven't already, do checkout JumboPlay, which allow you to download and stream (yes STREAM) full original games to your hard disk. I highly recommend it.

Iris's Shubi Shubi Animation Assignment

2006-09-25T18:35:00.000+08:00

Meet Kiera, my Dell XPS m1210 Laptop

2006-09-07T15:44:00.000+08:00

Some of the readers here know that I have a new Dell Laptop. Incase you didn’t, her name is Kiera (Kiera Knightley) and she is a Dell XPS M1210. Her brain is Dual Core 1.83 GHz with 1GB of RAM. She has stomach for 80 GB (really just 75 GB with those stupid Dell Partitions) and a surprisingly cheap nVidia 256 MB GeForce Go 7400. Best of all, this baby is only 12” in width, 7.5” in height and weights only 1.83 kg!

Kiera can play Oblivion on 75% of the highest setting smooth enough. The upside of that is that I do not need a next-gen console until Bioshock, Mass Effect or Tennis comes out. The downside – Oblivion, although not a very good game, is very addictive.

The Dell XPS M1210 is one of the best Core Duo based laptops in the market today. It is built on extremely solid base, has GREAT performance, is the cheapest of its kind (mine cost about RM 5500 (plus software RM700, a RM350 bag, etc)) and is fully customizable (add more RAM, CPU, HDD, etc).

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

2006-09-02T19:02:00.000+08:00

Professor Peter Sheldrake, professor of Business Entrepreneurship from RMIT, Australia was on MMU campus this Thursday. I will start referring to Prof. Peter as just Peter now less he gets the impression that I am trying to get money from him. He mentioned twice, once to a group and once to me personally that people that call him Professor tend to want money from him. Peter gave a very good presentation. He is very experience, intelligent and emphatic at the same time. Peter’s presentation is on Innovation and Entrepreneurship and touched the core. After the presentation, he answered some interesting question.

Change – The Challenge of Today

I like any entrepreneurship/management talk that starts and focuses on Change - especially someone who truly understands it, someone that walks the talk. There are two main themes of change – strategic and fundamental change. Strategic change: Amazon taking bookstores online. Fundamental Change: Automobile industry. Change happens and is here to stay. The world changes so rapidly; if you do not understand how it is changing, you will not be able to do anything in today’s world.

Three themes of Innovation

Resilience
Renewal
Revolution

Companies need to be resilience in order to stay in business today. That means companies that do know how to change will not be able to stay in business in the new world. This applies to both startups and big corporate firms.

Companies need to undergo renewal in order to make money today. Companies that take a look at how they are doing things and then improve certain key functions have higher chances of making money today. A startup that does the same thing as people in the past will not succeed.

Companies need to revolutionize the way they think about their business if they want to be at the top of their game. Today we live in the idea age. Innovators, those who have the knowledge, experience and courage to create and lead will win.

Three questions to ask as a startup

What need does this product/service meet?
Why is this solution better than any other solution to fulfill this need in your market?
How competitive is my way to meet this need?

Ask Questions: for design and business decisions

2006-06-22T02:59:00.000+08:00

Asking the right questions will get you the right answer. And that is the basis of Hatchling Games’ design and business decision making process.

Two of my most recent business ventures (Electronic Sports World and Hatchling Games’ Project Card-Chess) rely heavily on the internet, in particular online distribution and marketing. The emphasis is on low marketing, storage and distribution costs. The internet has fundamentally changed the way business works, the way consumers looked at “companies” and the way people looked at value. Companies that fully embraced the Internet and based business models around it thrived massively. Often it was entrepreneurs that created Internet-based companies that went on to become household names globally. These companies include Google.com, Amazon.com, eBay, Audible, Netflix, Neopets, etc. This business model is also known as The Long Tail , first coined by Chris Anderson in a 2004 Wired article. P2P, RSS, Blogging, Bittorent and other similar internet technologies are exhibits features of The Long Tail. Do read the linked article for a brief understanding of this model.

In the digital entertainment industry, Neopets.com is an example of a company with a Long Tail effect. Neopets.com is reported to be one of the most visited web sites in the world. The simple games on their website attracted so many players, mostly non-gamers that they were brought by Cartoon Network and MTV. Neopets avoided heavy competitions such as Electronic Arts, Sony, Nintendo, Square-Enix and Blizzard Entertainment, who have created market dominating games. To defeat the then leader in search engines, Google thought about their business in Internet terms running on Internet time. Neopets.com, arguably the most financially successful game development company in the world did the same.

Let Blizzard dominate the MMORPG market, you simply cannot compete on their ground. If the MMORPG players want to play World of Warcraft, they will – and there is nothing your new game can stop them unless it is really BETTER. Not because you think its better, because you KNOW your customers will think it’s better. How many RPG developers can say that? That is why I look forward to Bioware’s new MMORPG in Austin, Texas, USA.

I believe to succeed on the Internet is to ask the right questions, rethinking fundamental conscious and subconscious assumptions. Asking these questions will be the basis of Hatchlings Games’ game design, platform choices, financing and other business-critical decisions.

Questions such as, what is an MMOG?

Does MMOG just stand for “Massively Multiplayer Online Game” which mean a world that is massive and online multiplayer and that there is a game in it? Does this online world REALLY exist? If it does, how do you make you know and feel that it exist? Is realism the key? Are there other fundamental human emotions that make you feel that something is real?

Project Card-Chess will be designed with such question in mind.

There are many more questions, such as will people pay to play the game? What is it in it for the player? Why would the player care? Why are Japanese cultures so emphasized in Japanese animations and games? Can the same be done for a Malaysian-made game? What are Malaysian cultures that can be explored in a fictional world?

Questions like these ultimately make a game unique.

I will post about other questions on my next blog entry. Two questions interest me the most, one that is design-related and the other business:

How can Hatchlings Games put Malaysia on the map of the digital entertainment world?

How are we going to make money and are our assumptions flawed?

It really is a lot of balancing work: between time, budget, passion, gameplay, look and feel, platform, marketing, etc. For me, it all has to balance till it’s FUN and MEANINGFUL.

The Next Thing

2006-06-20T22:25:00.000+08:00

Many have asked me what I will be doing next. For the next year in my life, I will be dedicating my time to two of my start-ups, Hatchlings Games and Electronic Sports World. After everything that I have been through for the past 22 years of life, I am now at the peak of my creative, business and personal life. Although these are trying times, I will try till I am tried.

So first of all, I rejoined Multimedia University (MMU), Cyberjaya, Malaysia. I will only be taking one subject, Korean. I, along with Key and Zie Aun plan to make a business trip to South Korea within the next eight months. Really looking forward to learn Korean and speak to Koreans using their language. Koreans have a culture that I really like, especially their openness to gaming. “Tae Ha Ming Kuk…” Korea! Korea! Oh, Malaysia Boleh!

I am not feeling very fresh now, should take a shower. There will be a MMU Game Developers Club committee meeting tonight. I just read a post by the Student Representative Council that we have to observe club constitutions. What exactly are they? Does that mean that every member has the right to VOTE for the club’s officers including the President? We could be too new, and our member base too separated to do so. I do believe that with Iris, GDC will head to a better way. Her goal is to simply unite people and have fun, while Kuan and Syefri will surely be adding very interesting events and programmes to the mix. I really hope everyone can give her your support; she definitely has mine. I plan to speak on certain occasions in GDC events.

Electronic Sports World

As mentioned, Electronic Sports World (ESW) is one my newer ventures. Man, I tend to use acronyms a lot. Anyway, ESW (again!) is an online video show that that feature professional gamers in a truly original locale and setting. It is very original and my partner and I believe that it will really change the landscape of gaming.

ESW is the brainchild of my partner, Y.K. Goon. In my opinion, Goon is a brilliant business thinker. He is very up-to-date with the latest in business thoughts and lifestyle. I first met Goon at a university lab test, where he used to teach computer programming as a tutor. Well, my relationship with him has changed almost completely since then. I said “Almost” completely because every time he shares his business thoughts, I am learning from him.

I am still looking for partners for ESW, especially someone with a passion for professional gaming, film production, and internet marketing.

Do send me an e-mail if you are interested in collaborating, investing, sponsoring or if you just want information on this interesting project.

Hatchlings Games and Project Card-Chess

Hatchlings Games, my other and older venture, have been through frequent transformation that reflects on what Key and I have learned in the industry. Over the last 10 months, we have been trying many things, testing out the waters. This unregistered company is started when five classmates, Paul, Key, John, Chuen Chieh, and Zie Aun decided to take their hobby further. But really, the history and progression of Hatchlings really deserve a few entries of its own.

Project Card-Chess is a MMO-based card game that is played on a board. It has a unique business model that I have been trying to develop. There are a lot of assumptions that will be changing along that model which will change the design of the game – especially the MMO components of the game. We have to ask ourselves simple and fundamental questions like, is the core gameplay mechanics fun? What really is an MMO? What would make people want to try and lay and eventually pay to play? Really simple questions that we be better have good answers to.

Anybody who wishes to see our business plan to give their opinions should drop me an e-mail at johntanslade@gmail.com.

To get updated with the project, or to see the project from another designer’s point-of-view, check out Zie Aun (no-wing)’s Project Card-Chess development diary.

We are always looking for production managers, programmers, 2D and 3D artists, writers, and new game ideas from anywhere in the world. So if you are would like employment or partnership in a young Malaysian game company that creates original IP creator, don’t hesitate to send me that e-mail.

For this project to work, I am devising a different financing mechanism - one where anybody can invest if they trust us. More on that soon!

Anime and Games

Recently I have been downloading and watching two animes and playing a game. The two animes are The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (torrent) and Jigoku Shouju (torrent). Both are excellent animes that I will encourage anyone with the time to watch. Already they are inspiring me with story and world building ideas. The game I have been playing is Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, the sequel to the first “The Longest Journey”. It is the 2^nd part of the trilogy. So far it is a great game, except for the fact that I am stuck in some really difficult path-finding mind-bogging puzzle. The Longest Journey is written and directed by writer/director/game designer, Ragnar Tornquist.

Note: Do not be disappointed with the first episode of Haruhi Suzumiya, instead continue with the second episode, whether or not you finished the first. The episode was produced by the self-proclaimed ULTRA DIRECTOR Haruhi Suzumiya.

Lastly, I would like to recommend a game subscription service, JumboPlay which is brought to you by Josh Galloway’s Dragonback Media Interactive Sdn. Bhd. Do support the local games industry by buying original games.

Slade's Projects - Updated

2006-06-16T17:04:00.000+08:00

It has been work, work and more work lately. So much has changed since the last time I posted. I attended two great game development events, HELP Institute's Video Game Symposium and GDC's Future Game Creators Seminar. Started work on a project, codename: BattleChess which has been relatively fun. It is a great game, perhaps the best thing I have worked on ever.

Game Developers Club

Future Game Creators Seminar

Only one day: 29th of May
The seminar went well, speakers were:

Kevin Larken, Art Director, GameBrains
Mike Ooi, Lead Game Designer, Phoenix Games Studio
Hafiz Pon, Chief Technology Officer, Phoenix Games Studio

I had to sponsor the event myself.
The games the MMU student showcased were pretty impressive.
My favourite game was Han Sing's Cubic Island.
I owe 11 participants the participant fee which was cancelled. I hope they will be patient.

I have personally found a successor for GDC.

Her name is Lim Hui Wen or Iris as she is known here in MMU.
I still need to hold a meeting with the committee to decide if they agree with my decision.
The GDC committee meeting should be on Monday night.
Followed by another meeting on Tuesday night with the incoming President.
It has not been easy to look for the next GDC President. My other choices were Zaki and Kuan. Both are excellent choices.
Zaki's confidence really went down after the last Business Game Workshop testplay. I hope he regains that confidence. If Iris is selected I will recommend to her Zaki to be the publicity manager. If he accepts it, he should be assisted by a strike team of Alex and Augustine.
Kuan is a very responsible person, but he said he would be pressured. Granted that Iris is selected, Kuan already agreed to help her with the game development related activities of GDC.
Although she is younger than the other candidates, Iris is wise and has a strong character. She have played games for at least 10 years. She will be in the creative industry and is currently a member of Hatchlings Games.
Although the committee has not agreed yet, I have faith that they will. Do give her your support

Hatchling Games

Flash Game for GameBrains

We were going to do a flash game with a soccer theme.
Moy and Joshua are handling this one. I don't think it is going too well.
Moy joined an Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) company, so I hope that Moy will still believe and will contribute to Hatchlings Games.

Business Game Workshop

We have to continue our testplay sessions next MMU trimester.
I will meet up with Lewis Lim, my co-game designer for this edutainment game.
I will be handling the project to Mary who is very eager about edutainment.
Since she just started, she still has alot to learn about entrepreneurship.
She sould be assisted by Hoi Lee and Zaki.

Project BattleChess

Zie Aun's brainchild.
A combination of board strategy and collectible card game.
We will make it an MMO.
This is a very exciting project. Most people who have heard it are excited about it.
The biggest project that Hatchlings Games have ever done.
I have yet to tell the whole of Hatchlings Games about this project yet as we are still in conceptual stage.
We will announce it before next week-end when we are scheduled to testplay the game.
Key found Samin who is an excellent programmer. He will be prototyping the game.

Revamped Management

It has been 10 months since the founding of Hatchlings Games.
So far we have been doing research while testing out some ideas and doing some outsourcing working.
But now is the time to really start moving forward towards our goals.
After the Video Game Symposium, Key and I have a renewed mindset and have revamped the our management and operational guidelines.

Electronic Sports World

WarCraft III: DOTA Reality Show
My internet was down for a month, and during that month I didn't do much about this.
I really need to spend more time on this.
It is a project that I believed in.
Perhaps its time for me to recruit a few helpers here.
The main thing to do now is to research and put everything into a coherent business plan.
To kick things off, I think I will contact someone at TMNet.
OH, I am REALLY sorry to Goon.

Projects

2006-05-17T08:46:00.000+08:00

Current Projects

Game Developers Club

Future Game Creators Seminar - 29th/30th May
Need a successor, a new President - volenteer yourself

Hatchlings Games

Flash Game
GBA port of adventure game made with Scum (Game Engine)
Business Game Workshop (a floor game business simulation for educational purpose)

Electronic Sports World

WarCraft III: DOTA Reality Show

Someone didn't sleep for 33 years

2006-02-20T00:44:00.000+08:00

A side but related story. Sleep is a frequent topic for entrepreneurs, game developers and gamers alike. I have tried different models of sleep but in my opinion sleeping early and waking up early is still the best way for your health. For inspiration, night time is best.

This guy from Vietnam didn't sleep for 33 years! http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=12673

The Minna Mingle - Casual Games industry party at GDC

2006-01-23T22:40:00.000+08:00

Whoo Hoo!

http://mingle.minnamedia.com/

Too bad, really, too bad, that I don't think I have the $ to attend this super cool event. Key and I would really love to go there. You know, I am sure by March, with Choppin more ready, we would make some impact in that party - 2 young chaps from Malaysia flying all the way to the states to talk about games dev. WHoo hOo.

Well, fact is - it is still not possible yet. The dream is still a dream. It is time to make it into a VISION MAP - next topic.

Whoo Hoo!

Happy Today.

Top Selling Casual Games on RealArcade

2006-01-11T06:06:00.000+08:00

There has been very interesting topics discussed in the IGDA Casual Games mailing list lately. It is perhaps the most active IGDA mailing list, an indication of the popularity of casual games development now-a-days.

Interesting figures:
Top Selling Casual Games on RealArcade

PopCap owns the list with three games on the top 3 and another in the top 10. Zuma Deluxe (1), Feeding Frenzy (2), Bejeweled 2 Deluxe (3) and Bookworm Deluxe (10). My favourite casual game Insaniquarium Deluxe (also by PopCap) is currently ranked number 21 with 14 weeks in the Top 10.

Playing DOTA

2006-01-09T04:43:00.000+08:00

I admit. I have been slack. Last Friday night, Key, Aznan, Zie Aun, Fang Kai, Joo and I went to play DOTA. This is only my second time playing so I still suck a lot. Before the game, I thought I could use my WarCraft III/StarCraft micromanagement skills to good use. It turns out that I was wrong. DOTA is game with pretty interesting strategy. It is an extremely easy game to pick up but not very easy to master (but definitely not as hard as traditional real-time strategy games).

I realized that your Hero/Item combos are very important to win. Timing your hits while creeping is also very important for your gold flow. We chose to play at InfernoWorlds, SS15 because that is BB’s current cybercafé partner for MAS-1, Malaysia’s premier gaming group. InfernoWorlds is a great cybercafé, at least an improvement over those that I used to play in when I was still in my multiplayer gaming days.

The gaming reality-TV show that I am doing with Lewis, Goon and BB is going pretty well. There is a lot of synergy when working with like-minded people. So if you haven’t already, you really SHOULD go your way and FIND like-minded people and work together. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

I need to get back to developing games – and not just helping others with their assignments.

Entrepreneurs Action Programme

2006-01-06T10:42:00.000+08:00

I went to a preview seminar of a successful entrepreneur trainer with Key. The seminar is known as the Entrepreneurs Action Program (EAP) Boot-Camp, flagship programme of a Singapore-based entrepreneur training company, Exec-Directions mainly owned by successful Singaporean Entrepreneurs Wendy Kwek and Jerome Tan.

The preview session was held at a conference room in Holliday Villa with Jerome speaking. The session and I suppose the EAP Boot-Camp itself is motivational. I usually attend technical and/or business funding seminars but rarely motivational ones. There aren’t many good and cheap motivational speakers / programmes in Malaysia. Jerome reminds me of a Singaporean Anthony Robbins.

Exec-Directions is expanding at Malaysia. In Singapore, they have had over 300 graduates of the EAP Boot-Camp. The programme has received very good testimonies from some of their graduates. Check out their websites to see some of them. The main idea of the seminar is ACTION. It is for those who want to be entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs who want to learn to:

Remove mental obstacles for entrepreneurship (courage building)

Understand and implement the key success factors in entrepreneurship

Well, it feels that I am advertising for them. Oh well, I guess it is because I intend to attend their first session in Malaysia (which is at a 50% discount from the normal Singapore price). I think their first session will be held in March. Speaking of price – it is about RM3, 000. It is a relatively cheap for the huge load of content and a long contact time (the EAP boot-camp is spread over 3 weeks).

Jerome is an excellent speaker. He has a very unique style – Sing-lish Anthony Robbins style. I also find that I have some traits in common with Jerome like our passions for bootstrapping, reading and personal development.

I expect to learn the following skills from the seminar:

Make money with little or no money (bootstrapping) for ANY kind of business

Maximizing marketing efforts with little money

Creating synergy in Teams

Networking with liked-minded people

Get reviews for my business plans

Sell anything to anybody

Remember, one of the key to success in life is to: Constantly and Never-Endingly Improve (CANI). We have to feed our natural growth instinct.

Go and start investing as much as you can in the highest leverage possible: your education!

Should you attend a game development course

2006-01-02T14:25:00.002+08:00

If you are a school leaver and you are truly passionated about becoming a game developer, through whatever discipline, you would have heard of local tertiary institutions' game development courses. If you want to take these courses, you have several options:

Multimedia University
Lim Kok Wing University College
Tengku Abdul Rahman (TAR) College
HELP Institute

Personally, I do not agree with attending college to acquire these skills. No college can train you to be a game developer. There are many benefits of attending college so don't skip it. I just do not think you should join a game development course yet. It is too expensive an investment without enough returns. Take some time to figure out what field of game development do you like to start with (Programming, Art, Game Design, Audio, Writing, Management). Then enroll in a course that teaches you just that - Computer Science/Math, Film, Psychology and Technology Management. When you are in college, join a Game Developers Club. If your college doesn't have one, start one. You must take the innitiative to realize your dream.

There are still many things you will learn in college but it is not so obvious. You have do plenty of soul searching. College is also a place to build your character - your courage, your integrity, etc. These so-called soft-skills are incredibly important for your career and personal development.

The best way is to learn on your own and find a mentor. Even if you attend colleges, you still have to spend the majority of your time learning on your own - in many cases outside your university's syllabus. But make sure you are commited and disciplined enough to learn whatever you set out to learn. To know whether you are in the right track, post in the forums (see below for the links).

Another thing you should do is to stay updated on local industry events and happenings. You can do this through online forums and local networking events. Keep track of the IGDA.my and MyGDC Forums.

Coding Music

2006-01-02T09:13:00.000+08:00

Everyone have a particular mp3 playlist when they code/do their other PC-oriented work. My favourite nowdays is Enya's new album Amaratine. It's music is very soothing and helps the mind to focus and feel relaxed at the same time.

Birthdays

2005-12-26T04:28:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Merry Christmas! Ho Ho Ho! I received some birthday presents from my family too.

Speaking of birthday, my 21st is coming this Tuesday! Key and Mary organized a party for me too. They are so kind.

See you all.

Merry Christmas!

The Blog of a VC

2005-12-06T01:50:00.000+08:00

The blog of a managing director of Mobuis Venture Capital (USA) and an entrepeneur. It gives an insight into the minds of a VC firm managing director. Mobuis is rather unique because their senior managers are not from a Finance background.

The Movies and Games

2005-12-06T01:24:00.000+08:00

I have been playing The Movies, the game new Lionhead Studios game. It simulates the movie industry. You can play it from two perspective - Tycoon or Film-maker. I played the Tycoon mode as it is more fun for me. It has a lot more strategy, is very fast pace and very competitive. I wanted to design a Games Tycoon two holidays ago.

Ironically, I had a discussion with Hilmy today on Product Development vs Business Development. He feels that I should focus my efforts on Product Development for now. Business development should come only after product development. I think a succesful games company is excellent in both business and product development. I think our product team, which is lead by Paul/Aznan/Key is in good hands. Key and I will run the business side of things - trust me, its not easy. In the team, I am something like the Executive Producer.

On a side note, my friend and colleague, Iris Lim has a very interesting blog regarding her life. On a side note, she has plenty of Hatchlings Games Studio related post. Her blog can be found here. Btw, she loves cow.

CCTD Presentation Guidelines

2005-12-06T01:15:00.000+08:00

CCTD has a recommended presentation format (guidelines) that the center's deputy director has crafted. This is how he thinks entrepreneurs on the MMU CCTD programme should present. The team of reviewers for the CCTD funds include University Deans and Directors of Centers.

Core of business model: target market, "The Problem" defined, product differentiation, unique value proposition (UVP)
Support: Technology, Sales and Marketing (S&M) plan, founding team & share structure
Financials: Revenue forecast, proforma income statement, Budget for up to 3 years.
Monitoring: Schedules, Milestones
Good-to-haves: Strategies, proforma cashflow statement, Technology roadmap, Product Roadmap, Organizational Chart, Mission and Vision

We are given only 15 minutes to present, at 8:30am 22nd of December.

Financing Hatchling Games Studio

2005-11-11T12:23:00.000+08:00

You might be wondering, where Hatchlings Games Studios is getting their initial capital for doing business from. The straightforward answer is that we are applying for a student entrepreneurial grant. Not many Malaysian students realized that they are many government efforts that are promoting entrepreneurship among university students and fresh graduates. I have heard similar cases in other countries too. You just have to look – ask your lecturers, student union, do a Google search for student entrepreneurship in your country, etc.

As you probably know, I am attending Multimedia University (MMU), Cyberjaya, Malaysia. MMU’s mission is to be what Stanford University is to Silicon Valley for Cyberjaya. The university is new and has its own non-trivial problems. However, I think the government has taken a big step to provide for us an environment quite different from others in Malaysia. Some other colleges in Malaysia can boast about having more internationally recognized degrees or better location (e.g. Sunway University College is nearer to Sunway Pyramid), but I think MMU has the best environment and support for entrepreneurship (among other merits).

Within MMU, there is a commercialization unit known as CCTD. CCTD is short for the Center for Commercialization and Technopreneur Development. Technopreneur is a fancy word we use here in South East Asia that as you can guess, stands for Technology based Entrepreneurship. Since computer/video games qualify as a technology venture, Hatchlings Games Studio qualifies as a technopreneurial effort. (Note: Microsoft Word’s spellchecking database doesn’t have recognized the word Technopreneur yet.)

My first encounter with CCTD happens nearly three months ago. I was visiting my friend Exiang’s company, MiniMAX Studios which is situated at the MMU MSC Incubator located on campus. Among the services that MMU’s CCTD provide is a RM20, 000 startup grant. Besides that they also provide an office space that you share with other startups. In addition, CCTD provide legal, financial management and business development support.

I have met the Deputy Director of CCTD, Dr. Stephen Tam who is a technopreneur himself. He is very experienced and can spot a good company when he sees one. His advices have been very helpful so far – especially when he reminds me to think far and bootstrap. His staff, Simon who was an ex-banker is also extremely helpful. He helped me with doing some International business model patent checks.

There are many government grants for startups (and later business stages) all over the world. Being a tax-payer (either yourself or your parents), you should make full use of it. Use it to do what you want, to create value for your fellow citizens and mankind, and contribute back to your country.

Entreprenurship: Is it for you?

2005-11-06T15:05:00.000+08:00

I was wondering what to write. Finally I decided on entrepreneurship. That is, the process of organizing, operating and assuming the risks for a business venture. Is entrepreneurship right for you? If you are not sure, stick with this blog and we will find out together. This blog is where wish I share with you my journey to create a games business; namely, Hatchlings Games Studios.

The Soul Search

I realized when I was 15 that I want to create an intellectual property like Star Wars or Lord of The Rings. Those years were traumatic and life-changing times in my short life. I was having feeling extremely down and rather lived in a dream. The dream was creating a universe with on-going story by animating soft toys that my siblings like. Eventually I was spending five hours every night telling story to my brother. I was doing that for three years until I decided to make my dream real.

I have never wanted much money until then. However, I started to really realize that I can’t live off my parents forever. This is especially true for me since I have never liked the idea of spending a whole chunk of my time for the rest of my life to make money. I wanted to do something that I like and still manage to make money from it. After much thought and experiment, I knew what I wanted to do have to be informative and creative in nature. Since I loved playing video games, computer programming and creating worlds, making games is for me.

One way to do while soul searching (and at any time of your life) is to read. Read on anything. You should start by reading online. Two of my favorite game development websites are GameDev.net and Gamasutra.com. GameDev.net review new books quite often. Go to your favorite bookshop (mine is Borders at Berjaya Times Square) to look at it.

The first book that I read on games development was Game Architecture and Design by Andrew Rollings and Dave Morris. It is the book we use here at MMU (My University) too. It covers most of commercial games development. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in games development.

To be in games development you MUST read a lot. Besides that you must code a lot, design a lot, do whatever your skill is A LOT. If you want to make it into a business, you must also do HUMAN NETWORK a lot, that is to meet others in the industry. No one can really teach you how to be in the games industry if you don’t try it yourself. You have to have the mindset to do whatever it takes even if you are not sure. Keep at it, never give up and you will eventually be successful.

The Risk of Business

In my opinion, being a business owner is a lot safer than having a job. It is safer if you believe it is. You have to have the courage to be an entrepreneur. If you want to be an entrepreneur but you don’t think you have the courage, you have to do whatever it takes to build it (courage). It is not going to be easy – especially in the beginning. It has a very high up-cost (material, effort and time). You must have the courage and motivation to pull you through the initial stages.

I am a university undergraduate without a degree. Many people that I care about advised me to finish my tertiary education before starting a business. I prayed, calculated the risk, talked to different people, mustered my courage and really decided on this path only last week. This blog is my first step to maintain my courage and motivation.

Long Term Thinking

You have to think long term. No matter what others tell you, you should think long term. It doesn’t mean that you don’t have to think short-term. You should too, but you must aim as high as possible. It doesn’t matter whether you will achieve your goals – but you must know what your goals are. You must have a vision – for yourself, partners and future employees.

For me, I want to create a game with an inspiring and entertaining story and epic science fiction universe within six years. Everything I do now is directly or indirectly related to achieving that. Like I said above, it doesn’t matter whether I am really successful. What matters is you are motivated, you believe you can do it and you think ahead and have a goal. Put financial figures into your long term planning to help put things into context – but I do not recommend making the financial goal the primary motivating goal. You usually won’t be really happy doing that.

Remember, you are supposed to enjoy what you do and as a business owner you are supposed to provide value. If you only work for money you are more a self-employed (you pay yourself money) rather than a business owner (a provider of service and product).

Believing: Hatchlings Games Studios

2005-11-06T00:12:00.000+08:00

I am going to believe in my dream.

I am going to BELIEVE that I can be a successful game developer. I can be a successful game developer. I can be a successful game developer. I will do anything (legal and ethical) to create a successful game business. Join me in this exciting journey – please give your comments too. Share with me your experience.

My first attempt is going to be with my company - Hatchlings Games Studios. Over the past few months, my friend, Paul suggested to me start a team to create some games. His purpose was to create a game for Games Application II class which we were going to take in the third trimester in this academic year. At that time, Zie Aun, Key and I were doing a project to work together on something – coding a dating simulation engine. (

Paul thought that I had the ability to bring people together. I have been losing confidence in it – probably due to high stress (see my previous post which explains briefly my current condition). Well, I have failed but like I said I will rise up again. Hatchlings are all in this together! I know they will forgive me.

Hatchlings Games Studio is comprised of two fantastic managers (and friends) Paul and Key, an ultra-passionate game designer (and friend), Chun Chieh, my good friend Aznan Falzi who is helping with programming (He is helping as he doesn’t want to be part of the company), super effective, creative artist and friend, Tan Zie Aun, talented self-thought musician and writer, Foo Fang Kai, programmers Miica, Kuan and Alvin, and Seifer the artist.

I have failed them last week (read my last post) and I am going to apologize to every one of them. I wasn’t unserious about making this successful. I was overwhelmed with problems from every angle possible. Like I said before, everything is going change now.

The first step is to get us back together again – it should start with writing our company mission statement and plan. Although I would like to share everything in my dream, I cannot disclose anything that is going to be in a contract here. I will write as much as possible.

This is a journey together, you and me and all the others Hatchlings together! It doesn’t matter if you don’t care about this project. I am inviting any sort of comments.

Next, on our intended business models and plan.

Re-Entry into BlogSpot

2005-11-05T23:44:00.000+08:00

As I was sitting down alone in the hall here, I was thinking to myself – what am I going to do now? I have been thinking about it for quite long, since a few months back – since the happening of some major events. In fact, my lack of awareness and consciousness has been making me very anxious. I was frustrated with many things in my life. My procrastination, lack of self-discipline, lack of control and lack of accountability got me into a fairly depressing state. If truth be told, I was almost depressed – unable to function without feeling extremely nervous and frustrated.

I do not like being like this and I have been through life being more productive. My lack of clarity is linked to not being able to identify what went wrong. I broke down, and inadvertently spent a week to rest and rethink about my life and beliefs. I prayed to God whenever I remembered to during this period. I have decided to use one full day to get things right, set new direction and regain clarity.

As I look through my old written goals from August 2005 till December 2005, I found that I have accomplished a quarter, failed another quarter and have yet to accomplish the other half of them. I see that some goals changed completely without me realizing it. I don’t think I have spent my time correctly in the past month. I missed out a lot, lost a lot and am beginning to feel and act very negatively.

All that is going to CHANGE NOW. I will not procrastinate and wait any further. The first thing is to communicate better (in speech and text) – and it starts with this blog. My father told me that if I spend a week to improve my grammar, it will improve my life dramatically. I believe him and it will start with writing online.

This blogging project also coincides with my other desire which is to share my findings with the world, especially wannabe game developers out there. I am especially interested in writing for people in developing countries who want to enter this or any competitive industry that is not self-sustaining yet.

To those that don’t know who I am and wish to know. I am born John Tan Ching Tsan in Assunta Hospital, Malaysia on the 27th of December 1984. I am a software engineering and game design student of Multimedia University, Malaysia. I am a Roman Catholic, and a firm believer of the true Church that was founded by Jesus Christ. If you are not a believer – don’t worry this blog is not about Religion. Like I mentioned above, my immediate goal in life is to be a successful game developer – artistically and creatively. I believe in creating value by doing something you are passionate about. I am passionate about game making, business, personal development, film-making, religion and science (in no particular order).

I am going to verbalize my goal – online. It might not sound wise but I want to, and it is not wrong. I want to share everything I find of value for my readers. It is time to put my thoughts into actions – into manageable and conscious actions. It is time to live my life more courageously, make my dreams come true for the love of God. Let me not regret a single second of my life.

Asean Game Developers Summit

2005-10-15T00:55:00.000+08:00

I attended the first ever Asean Game Developers Summit which was held at Cititel Hotel (Malaysia). An overview of the event can be found at GameDev.Net. I enjoyed and benefit tremendously from the AGDS.

The talk I enjoyed most was that by Chris Avalone, Lead Game Designer of Obsidian Entertainment. I also benefited from the funding and publishing workshop.

I am not going to give a personal account of it here as most of it were mostly private discussions between me and others.

Burnt out

2005-06-26T11:49:00.000+08:00

It has been two weeks since the beginning of the new semester. Slade is not feeling that well again. Last weekend he was down with a indigestion-induced illness. This weekend he is in a near-flu state. However, after some rest he is looking much healthier. Everytime he look starts Flash he gets this sleepy!

The presentation for the bouncing ball simulation is on Monday (less than one full day from now), and he has not done much yet. Everytime he starts Flash, he falls alseep. I am going to force him or if possible, take over his body and start doing his assignment!

Slade: You gotta pace yourself! Allow one full day during the weekend for rest.

New DirectX 9.0 Update

2005-06-12T06:39:00.000+08:00

Microsoft did it again! They updated their latest DirectX 9.0 API. For fellow 3D developers out there, the SDK is now called Microsoft DirectX 9.0 SDK Update (June 2005). Luckily all my old programs still compile. You just have update your $include and $bin paths. If you are using Microsoft VS.NET 2001-2003 then they will do it automatically for you. I am not sure if you have to uninstall previous version of the SDK, but that is what I did before installing this new update - just in case. You can download it from MSDN DirectX Web.

Speaking of Microsoft, they are closing in on a deal with some Hollywood studio to make a movie based on their superhot game franchise, Halo. Normally game->movies by Hollywood sucks, but judging from Halo 1, Halo 2 and the three novels spawned out of the Halo universe - this one if it is ever produced, could be an exception. Speaking of game-cum-movies, where is Deus Ex: The Movie?

Wiki

2005-06-06T06:16:00.000+08:00

Memories of the Game Showcase 2004/2005 returned to haunt the mind of Slade. He was concern about he state of the local game industry's future, and also for his fellow coursemates and himself too. So Key and I thought of helping him, and we setup a new Wiki for existing SEGD students and especially the upcoming batch of students.

It is here. Don't wait! Go check it out now.

Interview with Zie Aun aka no-wing

2005-05-31T17:23:00.000+08:00

Tan Zie Aun is a multi-talented Gamma (sophomore) SEGD student from the 2004/2005 (entering) batch. He is well known for his creative artworks (http://no-wing.deviantart.com) and intelligence (among the highest CGPA, brilliant in Math, writes very intelligently). Besides being fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English, he also knows rudimentary Japanese and Korean (self-taught). Best of all, he also creates his own runes and fantasy languages.

1) Please tell us more about yourself and your interests, education background and future plans.

I'm Zie Aun, known online as 'no-wing'. I came into MMU after six years in Singapore. I like to draw and write, other than playing games (duh). Always looking for a good game of Magic: the Gathering. I wish to go into concept art and story-writing, that or trading card games. I'm planning and coding an online card game now, that will be a big part of my portfolio. To see my works, please go to http://no-wing.deviantart.com

2) Why did you choose to join SEGD?

I've always loved games every since I received my first console for a birthday present. Well, I believe most people are game fans too, but I wanted to be more than just a fan. I have my ideas to show the world, and I believe games can be one medium to show my ideas

3) Are you satisfied with the course so far?

I'm satisfied; the course leaves much to desire. I think it's one of the very few courses that you still have your seniors hanging around and openly sharing ideas.

Programming

4) In your opinion, do you think some SEGD student can hate programming but still survive and graduate from the course?

Tough luck. There isn't much programming for the 'game design' subjects, but you still need them for the 'software engineering' part.

5) Do you think programming hard to learn? Why do you think it is so?

Programming is like speaking in another language. Learning it isn't hard, the hardest part is being fluent in it.

6) How much work should a student put into programming to get good at it good enough to be a game industry-standard programmer?

That is, if you're going to be a game programmer. To be fluent in this language (in any language, in fact), you'll have to use it often. Make some small programs in your free time, they help. I'm being hypocritical here, since I don't really like programming, but yeah, practice is the key. Another thing is interaction. Join online forums (one or two should be enough), and ask from people that are better than you.

7) Programming is boring to many new students (and to many senior students), and people do have that lasting first impressions. What do you recommend a newcomer to do to make programming / computer science more interesting and exciting?

To me, to be able to program games is exciting enough.

Art

Imagine if I am a new incoming BETA SEGD student interested in Game Art.

8) I am interested in game art, and I know this course does not teach me that. What do you think I should do?

That is, if you plan to do programming as well. Else I think you should be better off in FCM

9) I don’t know anything about programming, but I know I hate math and doubt that I have the brains to be a good programmer. However, I still want to know about games development, game design and its process since I love games. Do you think it is wise for me to join SEGD?

Learning programming doesn't mean that you'll have to be a game programmer. It's best to know something about game programming if you want to be a developer.

General

10) Any practical advice you can give the BETA SEGD student?

Besides what eXiang said, make a lot of friends. Grasp every opportunity that you come across. Don't be afraid to show people what you can do.

11) Thanks for your time; I am sure new students will appreciate it. I gather that you have been some projects. I hope to conduct a few interviews regarding your projects in the near future. Good Luck.

Besides what eXiang said, make a lot of friends. Grasp every opportunity that you come across. Don't be afraid to show people what you can do.

Interview with eXiang - Relevant to all SEGD students

2005-05-31T16:24:00.000+08:00

Note: For more information on MMU SEGD including this interview, please visit the SEGD Wiki, and the MGDC forums.

Recently I conducted a series of Interviews with some students/graduates of the Software Engineering and Games Design course in Multimedia University (for which I am a student of if you didnt know already). The first in the series is Tan Yee Siang (better known as eXiang). Thanks Yee Siang for such insightful answers to questions that most SEGD students ask often in their minds (but seldom from their mouth :p)

Yee Siang is one of the success stories of SEGD. He is well known as the co-founder of MiniMax Studios, MGDC and MMU Game Developer's Club.

1) Tell more about yourself and your interests

My name is Tan Yee Siang, most of my course mates just call my nickname: eXiang. I have wide interest in everything, mainly art and science (programming). People said movie is the 8th art, I think game is a form of art as well.

2) Why did you choose to join SEGD?

I came to MMU for the loan, and bcs of a gal also :) When making my choice between FCM and FIT, I choosed SEGD where it is a combination of both. Of course, I join SEGD because I like to play game as well.

3) Did SEGD turn out to be what you thought it would be? Please elaborate.

Well, honestly, I never know what SEGD will look like when I was in Alpha year. I was gambling with my future at that time. Thus, once I get in here and understand the situation, I founded MGDC with lih hern - a game development community/portal mainly for MMU student.

Like John, we all don't want the alpha student to make the wrong decision. The only way to help them is to tell them the truth.

After all, there is not much difference from what I expected. I enjoy all the game development subjects, skipped some boring common IT subject and nearly fail in those Math subject. :)

Programming

4) In your opinion, do you think some SEGD student can hate programming but still survive and graduate from the course?

To me, it is possible to survive the course hating programming as some of my seniors and course mates have did just that. The percentage of programming work in the whole course is about 60%. As an SEGD student, there are many ways to graduate.

However, this doesn't mean that programming is not important. Game development uses programming extensively. (Without programmers there video games will not exist). Programming includes networking, AI, scripting, 2/3D graphic and sound, databases and etc. Game programming is always in the state-of-the-art of IT technology. (With some exception – like Software Engineering which is not very adopted in the industry yet :p)

And we should not forget, gaming technology is inherited from virtual reality technology.

On the other hand, it doesn't mean you can’t create a game without good programming skill. There are plenty of software game creators / authoring tools out there that could help you realize your dream. (You still need to know basic programming/scripting concepts)

Finally you have to ask yourself: Why do you want to spend your resources for a game development degree?

In my opinion, this course is for people that like both programming and the arts.

5) Do you think programming hard to learn? Why do you think it is so?

I don't think programming is hard to learn. Most of the people are weak in programming because they have no interest in it, just like I have no interest in Math.

The hardest thing to learn is the management of development.

6) How much work should a student put into programming to get good at it good enough to be a game industry-standard programmer?

Alot and alot. Imagine sitting in front of computer nearly 24 hourse a day, nearly 7 days a week. When I was in university, I rarely go downtown for cinema and disco. You might not believe it but the number of games I played in the last 3 years won’t be more than 3 titles. The first thing I plan to do after graduate is 2 months vacation and catch up on my much needed sleep.

Game development is one of the way. You will discover the beauty of programming through game development. To me, at least, I won’t feel bored when developing a game as compared to developing database application.

8) In your opinion, how should a SEGD student go about learning programming?

Being a good game developer is not just about being a good programmer. You need to be able to study on your own independently, able to work in team and manage a project as a team, and most important: be resourceful.

For example: You need to search Google first for the solution before you asking around for help.

Open source is one of the shortcuts for you to learn the programming and system architecture. Believe me or not, when you are exploring open source project, seeing how engineers all around the world implement the project, you are actually importing technology into Malaysia.

Lastly and undeniable, math is still important for a programmer.

9) Any links / articles to recommend?

www.google.com

Art

Imagine if I am a new incoming BETA SEGD student interested in Game Art.

11) I am interested in game art, and I know this course does not teach me that. What do you think I should do?

By default, the place you should go is MMU FCM or Lim Kwok Weng However, in my own opinion, both of these places can’t give you a good environment to succeed as a game artist.

A game artist still has to base his skills on traditional art skill. You need to have traditional art skill such as portrait, water color and so on.

Also, you must not making learning how to use Adobe Photoshop as you goal in your study. You should learn how to use Photoshop to achieve what you want. The ability to realize your artwork inside your mind is more important than what tools you are using.

In blizzard, they only hire artist that like to play game.

My advice: a CG artist that knows basic programming and has scripting ability is very important in the market today. (SEGD can exposed you the technical part here)

12) I don’t know anything about programming, but I know I hate math and doubt that I have the brains to be a good programmer. However, I still want to know about games development, game design and its process since I love games. Do you think it is wise for me to join SEGD?

You can develop other software even if you are an SEGD student. Same thing, you could still create games even if you are not a SEGD student.

To make you choice, your must have a strong interested and are ready to jump into it with no regret. Ask yourself: What a game development degree can give me?

General

13) Any practical advice you can give the BETA SEGD student?

One should not come to this course just because he likes to play game.
One should not come to this course just because he thought game development is just as easy as playing games.
One should not come to this course if he intends to live a stable working life after graduate.
Be independent and be ready to sacrifice. Most important of all, you must know your goal.

3D Graphics Programming links

2005-05-19T22:45:00.000+08:00

Following the post on 3D transformation pipeline & essential 3D mathematics, here is a link to a wonderful page with great links on those topics and more!

http://www.realtimerendering.com/

This is actually a website by the author of a book of the same title. I saw the book in Borders (after watching EPIII) and browsed through the introduction and found the link.

coLinux: Run full-blown Linux on Windows

2005-05-18T17:06:00.000+08:00

Having made the decision to give up buying pirated software I, I have recently been using only Linux on my Laptop. See my previous post for more information. However I missed playing many games (downloadable indie games... since I do not buy pirated games anymore). Since the majority of Linux software are console-based (non-GUI), I thought of giving coLinux a try.

coLinux stands for co-operaive Linux. It runs the Linux operating system on a single windows thread. It supports many flavours of Linux - including my personal favourite - Gentoo. I have been using the excellent Linux emulator Cygwin for ages and thought of having a change. Also some programs do compile well in Cygwin - especially server programs. I needed an alternative - coLinux was IT.

When coLinux is running, it is like having a real saparate Linux box running on Windows. So If you need to use it just give a try. If you need help installing it there are plenty of support (learn to use googgle) and help available. If you are new to Linux and need to know why you should use it, you should write in some comments.

Linux over the last few days

2005-05-15T09:04:00.000+08:00

I have not been updating my blog for the last few days. I could not - because I have been formating my Windows hard disk and installing Linux on it. I installed a fresh Linux from a wonderful distribution called Gentoo Linux. Gentoo is really an awesome distribution. I can proudly say that it is the best Linux distribution I used so far.

But since one of the main idea of Gentoo Linux is for the user to configure almost everything on your system. It will take a long time. The original download to kickstart the installation process is only about 23MB. From there I chose to boostrap my system from scratch. After an accumulated 36 hours of typing Linux commands and studying the Gentoo architecture (while waiting for source codes to download and compile) I finally managed to get the majority of my system running.

My system now runs:

Apache2 web server - Internal only. I do not know how to port forward external requests from port 80 of my ADSL modem/router to my other Wireless router. I manage to port forward from my wireless router to my internal LAN/WLAN though. Going to install PHP and set up MySQL soon.

bsd-ftp FTP server - Internal only too.

SAMBA server - for the other Windows system on my LAN to share files.

OpenOffice - I hope it can open .ppt files to read the lecture notes next trimester!

Neverwinter Nights - still trying to get hardware acceleration: It is very difficult to get it (3D hardware acceleration) working on my laptop's ATI Mobility Radeon 9700. I tried the FireGL driver but it doesn't work yet. Anybody having experience in this, please I beg you - lend me a hand.

Gotta go now. I am going to Church to attend Mass and volenteer to be a warden in the upcoming (23rd May) Golden Jubilee celebration of the arch-diocese of Kuala Lumpur.

3D: Essential mathematics

2005-05-10T03:27:00.000+08:00

I spent five hours of yesterday morning continuing my 3D graphics programming journey. After experimenting with DirectX a little, I knew I needed to refresh my Math a bit. So I fired up the DirectGraphics SDK help files to look for the list of D3DX library’s mathematic functions. This is what I found:

Data Types
D3DXMATRIX – 4x4 (16 floats) MATRIX

D3DVECTOR3 – 3D VECTOR (3 floats)

D3DXPLANE – plane normal (x,y,z) and distance from origin (4 floats)

Matrix and Transformation Functions
D3DXMatrixMultiply – Multiply two 4x4 matrices

D3DXMatrixRotation{X/Y/Z} – build rotation matrices for a particular axis

D3DXMatrixTranslation – create a translation matrix

D3DXMatrixRotationYawPitchRoll – rotate about all axes in one call

D3DXVec3TransformCoord – Multiply 3D vector with a 4x4 Matrix

D3DXVec3TransformNormal – result vector is normalized

D3DXVec3Transform – (x, y, z, 1) -> resulting vector is (x, y, z, w) where w != 1

Vector Functions
D3DXVec3Cross – cross product – returns a vector perpendicular to A and B

D3DXVec3Dot – dot product – return as cosine of the angle between two vectors (float)

D3DXVec3Length – determine the magnitude (float) of a vector

D3DXVec3Normalize – Makes vector unit length

So from this list of functions, I knew which part of mathematics I needed to review or re-learn in my case. I searched Google for:

Linear Algebra (Matrices and Vectors are part of linear algebra)

3D Math

Matrix Multiplication

3D vectors tutorial

3D Rotation Matrix

GameDev.NET 3D Graphics article/tutorial list

After solidifying my mathematics, I went back to the DirectGraphics SDK help files to examine individual D3DX math functions. With my new found knowledge, I recoded the 3D wire-frame rendering pipeline using matrices and vectors. Later today, I am going to continue this journey with DirectX (my API of choice for now).

3D: The Transformation Pipeline

2005-05-02T10:21:00.000+08:00

Have you ever wondered how a 3D game is made? Or more specifically, how graphics are displayed on the screen as 3D graphics? I have. In my previous post, I said that is not easy to acquire this knowledge. However, I think it is worth spending a significant amount of time in this area. This is especially true if you intend to develop a 3D game as a programmer – whether the 3D engine, physics or Artificial Intelligence (AI). As I mentioned in my previous post, I will spend the rest of this year learning how to build a 3D rendering engine from scratch.

You will probably be wondering why one wants to learn how to build a 3D rendering engine when there are so many commercial and open-source rendering engines out there. It is true that I will probably never be able to create the next Doom3 or Unreal engine. However, developing the Doom3-beater is not my initial goal; instead my goal is to build a solid foundation of 3D knowledge in order to truly understand, utilize and modify other 3D rendering engines. I want to know what I am doing when I use a 3D engine or graphic API’s “vertex shader” or its simple “drawCube” functions.

Whether I plan to use a pre-built 3D engine or to create my own using a graphics API (Slade3D, haha) like OpenGL or DirectX Graphics, I would like to understand what the API is doing behind the scene. I do not want to be in a situation where I have to spend ten years debugging some annoying unexpected result. That would be disastrous. Without understanding the underlying mathematics that drives a mathematical construct (the 3D world), I do not think I will go very far in the realm of 3D.

I spent the last few nights learning/refreshing about the basics of 3D. Particularly the transformation pipeline (what every vertex of a 3D object must go through) and how vertices and matrices mathematics are used in an engine. I will try to give a brief summary of what I learnt.

I start of by understanding the geometrical representation of objects in 2D and 3D on the Cartesian plate. Doesn’t this sound like math? Well it is. I would advice anyone going into games programming to try to be familiar and practice your math.

Then I proceeded to understanding the way the CPU/GPU render individual pixel on the screen. Information of individual vertices that defines a 3D object is stored on the memory as simple data structures. Some examples of these data structures are vertices, polygons, meshes, etc

Next I move on to the important Transformation Pipeline. Knowledge of the previous items is needed here. The transformation pipeline (this sounds really cool) is a long “pipeline” every 3D vertex has to pass through in order to know which pixel on the screen it occupies.

Each vertex in a polygon has to go through various mathematical transformation processes starting with translation and then rotation – to bring the polygon to a new coordinate space, known as the world space. (I.e. The vertices will have new coordinates relative to the world origin.)

After the world space transformation, the polygon is then transformed again to another new coordinate space known as the view space. This is to create the ‘camera view’ for the players to view the world. Properties like camera positions, viewing direction and field of view are specified for this view – usually stored in a camera data structure.

Then we need to add some sort of perspective, some sort of depth. Without it, our 3D world would not be called a 3D world right? So we need to transform again. This time to another coordinate space known as the projection space. This is done by dividing each view space X and Y coordinate by a view space Z (depth) coordinate. Many other particulars regarding the limitation of the 2D screen resolution must be dealt with here.

The final step in the transformation pipeline is to find a pixel coordinate on the screen for the current projected vertex. This process is known as screen space mapping. There are some simple concepts regarding screen resolution to grasp here.

Once all the vertices of a polygon are in screen space, we can then draw lines in between each point to render a simple primitive wire-frame object on screen.

When I began to understand how polygons are rendered, I realized why high-polygon models drawn in 3D modeling packages cause significant reduction of application performance. It is due to the high number of calculations the CPU/GPU has to perform in order to get those vertices on the screen. Hence the need for different techniques to reduce the number of calculations. One of such optimizing technique is called back face culling. It assumes that the player will never be allowed see the back of a polygon and thus not having to render it. 3D rendering engines usually perform a fast and cheap test to see if a polygon I facing the player. In order to do the aforementioned test, I have to know how to determine which way a polygon is facing. The answer lies in the order we specify the vertices of the polygon. This is known as the polygon winding order.

I was somewhat shocked to realize how much math one needs to know to comprehend how a basic 3D polygon is rendered on the screen. Furthermore because of the huge amount of calculation the CPU/GPU needs to perform, no 3D API use trigonometric calculations we just discussed to their transformation pipeline; instead another mathematical construct, matrices (plural for matrix) are used.

Phew, that is a lot to learn. I wonder where John Carmack learnt all these from before he programmed Doom. In addition to all these 3D concepts (in its minute detail), I had to refresh a lot of math. I will continue with the math in the next post.

Through pixels and perspectives (3D Graphics)

2005-04-28T06:31:00.000+08:00

Over the past few hours, I have wrestled my consciences to regain control of my thoughts. Okay that was just joking, but what it figuratively meant that I won’t be writing about Slade but writing as Slade, which incase you did not know is myself.

For the past two nights I stayed awake till dusk to catch the Champion’s League semi-final games. And in between those days I was being a geek journeying (well on a low gear on a go-cart) through pixels and perspectives; or journeying through equations, symbols and code if you like. What I mean is I am learning 3D Graphics programming.

I have done some 3D programming with OpenGL in the past and understood a little bit the theory of 3D engines. That was back in the days - I followed the excellent NEHE OpenGL tutorials. The venerable tutorial site is still up and as good as ever. Any programmer interested in 3D programming should definitely check out that site.

3D graphics programming is really challenging especially if you are using the DirectX API like I am now. I remember Tim Sweeney (the lead programmer of Unreal) saying that this is the area where the ‘fun’ in games programming comes in the flavor of math, algorithms and optimizing. Believe me, if you really want to understand 3D graphics, you better be good at your math, especially linear algebra (vectors and matrices). It took me hours of concentration during the past two nights to barely grasp some 3D concepts and the mathematics – even with some experiences with 2D graphics and a strong (but lack of practice) mathematics background.

Oh yeah bare in mind that my intention is to build a 3D engine or to REALLY understand what goes beneath a good one. I am really going relatively low level with all the complex math, assembly optimization, floating-point manipulation, etc. On a practical side I am currently building a wire-frame software-based 3D engine on Win32 GDI. I am using DirectX’s helper functions (D3DX) to perform the mathematics given that it will take me a while to optimize my own math engine. However I am not really shying away from the math engine – just taking it step-by-step. All the headache – but it is still really darn fun.

Hopefully the post has not been too technical for my faithful non-technical readers here. As the description of this blog says, I just want to share the experiences of my journey perusing my ambition.

Adventures at MMU Games Showcase Part 3

2005-04-19T14:00:00.000+08:00

Check out the other post in this series:

Adventures at MMU Games Showcase Part 1
Adventures at MMU Games Showcase Part 2

(Note: Part 2 of the series has been deleted by Slade because he didn’t find it interesting. But hey guys, I will tell you a secret; he just wants to hide some details I wrote in there.)

After lunch at Punchong, Slade and Leon head straight to their destination – the MDC Flagship Center. Leon was driving when he suddenly asked, “Why are you so quiet? Usually you would not stop talking.” Slade paused and twitched his jaw then struggled to reply with a quick question-answer, “Ya Meh?” The truth is, Slade has an ulcer on the right side of his mouth.

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the MDC building at Cyberjaya. They entered the cozy and hi-tech looking hall. The hall was already filled with quite a lot of people. However most of them are inside separate room, also known as the presentation room. All the presenting students dressed formally (including Slade who dressed black).

Slade had the opportunity to meet many game industry professionals that were present. The first one he approached was the Off-World Spice-Station Commander, Tharone (Terrence Tan). Too bad Slade didn’t bring his camera. I told him to, he just didn’t (one of the exciting things we missed in the missing part 2). Tharone was awesome, but time didn’t permit them to discuss anything that meaningful. Slade wants to be someone like Tharone, you know journeying into the unknown regions with his spice freighter and all. I have a feeling that they were meet again one day. I know that Slade has so much to learn from this guy. I advised Slade to sit down with Tharone one day with some booze. I heard Tharone is into booze.

The showcase had five groups presenting, and lasted about two hours. There were five judges from the games industry - all of them leads of some respective discipline. Tharone (Terrence) - former Studio Head/Producer/Consultant, Mike - Lead Game Designer, May Ling - ex-MMU SEGD student/game writer/game designer, Kevin - Art Director, Hafiz - Lead Technologist. I felt that it was a pleasure for the students to be judged by such a stellar cast of talent and experience. The final verdict for most of the games were not that positive. However the criticism were constructive.

Some practical advices for Slade and his batch of SEGD students:

1) Innovate in Game Design - An Innovative and Interesting game design makes an Incredible playing experience.

2) Form the development team early.

3) Some sort of software engineering must creep into development to ensure the game can be FINISHED in time

4) Use tools/development platform/library that are most suitable for the game you want to make.

5) The bottom line is - do your real BEST. Don't show slip-shortness in your work.

Special Thanks to: the judges, bouya, mistaman, sherman, leon, leon, vincent, exiang, ferocious_bunny, etc...

Off to Penang

2005-04-17T22:18:00.000+08:00

Dear Penang,

Slade is coming over. In fact he is departing very soon, probably in about half and hours time (11PM). It will be at 5 hours drive in one of the broken cars (broken mirror or broken air-cond). Due to respect for him, I will not continue the "Adventures in MMU Showcase" posts until he returns. He should be there for about a day or two.

I will pray for his safety and sanity on this emergency trip. I hope to have some rest while he is away.

Yours Truly,

Adventures at MMU Games Showcase: Part 1

2005-04-17T17:49:00.000+08:00

It is Friday morning, 9AM and I am thinking that Slade should really be awake now. Key or Vincent will be calling him anytime soon and he better be ready – you know, you don’t want them to wait. And he did ask me to wake him up around 8:30. Oh just in case you didn’t know, today is THE day for games design student of MMU. It is the annual MMU games showcase. Students of the gamma (sophomore/junior) batch are going to present their game projects to judges from the games industry. Oh boy, I am excited – and I know Slade is to, so I HAVE to get him up.

“Get up Slade! Get up! I know you don’t have to present but then you promised Key that you are gonna join them help set up the showcase computers. And don’t forget you also promised Vincent that you are going to lend him Flub’s laptop.”

“Oh true! I totally forgot about it. I am still feeling so sleepy can’t you let me sleep till one of them call?”

“Okay lazy Slade. Don’t say I didn’t wake you up.”

So he returned to sleep and continued his dream. Half-and-hour later, the imminent phone call came. Slade got up and walked to the phone. It was Key. He said he is on his way to pick him up. Slade took a bath and just when he came out; Vincent called and said he was outside Slade’s house. Anyhow he passed the laptop to Vincent and wished him good luck for the presentation later this afternoon.

The games presentation is to start at 3PM. Slade is going there early (along with some other students from his batch) to help out in setting up the showcase demo. He didn’t have to wait long before Key came and all. On the way to Key’s car, Slade met Blanko and Keith. They looked prepared for the showcase. They (and the rest of the Gamma game design students) are to do some pre-presentation presentation. Well that is what me and Slade thought.

After greetings and all (with Key), Slade entered Key’s car and obviously I followed. Key thought Slade looked sleepy and lethargic. I advice Slade to wash up before he meets anybody later today – Slade, you must try to stay awake and energetic! “Just stay awake for today – you can sleep as long as you want to tonight”, I was reminding him that.

In any case, we departed Cyberia to campus to pick up two other guys – namely Ewa and Notapro.

To be continued… in the Adventures of Slade at MMU Games Showcase Part 2!

Slade is on holiday

2005-04-16T13:35:00.000+08:00

You know, it has been a long time since Slade last updated his blog. The prime reason for the lack of updates is the awfully slow at Cyberia. You see, most of the time Slade can’t even get online. Even when he could, it takes up to a minute to load a local (.my) page – and that assumes it doesn’t timeout prematurely. I really pity Slade and Flubs.

Now that the exams at MMU are over, the trimester break has just begun! Celebrations are due! Well, since the students have such a long break Slade can probably delay it (the celebrations) for a while. Many students from out of town are going back to their homes. This includes Slade who will be returning to nearby Petaling Jaya. He is looking forward to being with his family for the next two months. Yet his friends, he will miss. But oh well, most of his graduating friends are staying back at Cyberjaya to finish up their games (development) projects. And since he is going to be with his other non-graduating friends after the break anyway, he can wait.

Well on Slade, I don’t really know what is going on his mind sometimes. He has so much random thoughts about so many things, At times I feel like I can’t understand him. I advice him, to just be patient concerning his many dreams and ideals, and to live one day at a time. I can see that he has been improving in that virtue (of patience and tolerance). no longer do I see him frustrated over things that he cannot change. As a substitute for his being frustrated and miserable, I foresee that he will joyfully (in his own way) do what he can, with or without his friends, in or out of cyberspace - to help himself and others to reach their dreams (in a detached manner).

Slade, I wish you all the best in your life(s) and games, to endure all suffering and to be remain steadfast in faith and love.

Damn Small Linux - is COOL!

2005-02-25T08:00:00.000+08:00

I just downloaded a linux distribution that is only 50MB in size. It is called Damn Small Linux, is based on the Debian distro and can be downloaded from http://www.damnsmalllinux.org. It is designed to be used from a CD, USB pen drive, zip drive or even embedded into any other devices or OS (including MS Windows). It is really cool. Even though it is a barebone system, you can extend upon the system pretty easily with an internet connection.

I find it really cool. I suggest to people who want to try linux (and you should) to try it. It will not affect data on your hard disk. You can also download the embedded version which will allow you to run the whole system as a window in WinXP - now that is kinda cool.

However if you really want to get a taste of Linux, go get Fedora Core distribution. I am going to stick with this since my old laptop is a low-end machine and will really benefit from it. Guess I am going to set up some servers on it. And since I am developing a MUD now - I can use my old laptop as a test server instead of having it run on my main laptop's Cygwin environment. This is quite convinient.

Join the open-source movement now!

Knowledge need for games development: Collision detection and A.I.

2005-02-14T22:30:00.000+08:00

Collision Detection

The collision detection system is needed to prevent players from walking through walls and other game entities. It is also used to detect when a game object (i.e. a gun bullet) hits another (i.e. terrorist). Collision detection is closely linked to the graphics and physics engines.

Mathematics Knowledge
Linear Algebra: Vectors, matrices

Programming Knowledge
As with most of game programming, strong algorithm design and logic skills needed here.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence attempts to give life to computer-controlled entities. By defining behavior and motivation of each of these entities, they will react accordingly to player’s actions. AI is an important and largely untapped area of game programming.

Mathematics Knowledge
Probability: Many A.I. models are probabilistic
Discrete Mathematics: Set theory, combinatorics, game theory

Programming Knowledge
Among all areas of game programming, the importance of logic is most apparent in A.I.

Other Knowledge
An understanding of existing A.I. models will help you design he A.I. for your next hit game.

Knowledge need for games development: Physics Engine

2005-02-14T03:25:00.000+08:00

Since most 3D games are modeled as another world, you need a physics engine to define the physical rules of the game.

Mathematics Knowledge
Mathematics is the language of physics, so you need to be competent in it to write the physics component of the game engine.

Calculus: Differentiation, integration, differential equations, approximations, numerical methods
Linear Algebra: Vectors, matrices

Programming Knowledge
To program a physics engine, one requires strong logic and algorithm design skills.

Other Knowledge
Of course since your objective is to model the universe, knowledge of classical Newton physics is absolutely essential. Other branches of physics like electricity & magnetism are not needed. Unless one attempts to create an engine with atomic-level precision (yet to be done) quantum mechanics can also be ignored.

Knowledge need for games development: Graphics Engine

2005-02-14T01:02:00.000+08:00

The graphics engine is a major component of the game engine. It deals with everything you see on screen. The graphic engine handles 3D rendering (displaying the output), camera control, lighting & shadow, animation and special effects. It is usually the component that contributes the most to game review verdict – whether it will succeed or fail in the market. A good graphics engine cannot guarantee success but a bad one most certainly won’t.

Mathematics Knowledge
Graphics is one of the most mathematical intensive parts in the game engine, especially when dealing with 3D. This is because screen pixels which the engine manipulates are mathematical identities by nature.

Linear Algebra: Vectors, Matrices, Quaternion
Calculus: Optimization for some algorithms

Programming Knowledge
Programming 3D graphics engine is mainly about designing the right algorithm. There are many 3D graphics algorithms that are published online and in books.

Other Knowledge
In addition to solid programming ability and competence in mathematics, understanding of hardware and assembly language can be very useful.

What is needed to make games: A focus on knowledge (Part 1)

2005-02-13T16:16:00.000+08:00

A modern day video game is a sophisticated piece of software with massive amount of data. The seemingly simple interface and game rules is a façade of its actual complexity in terms of software substance. This is even truer of the process for its creation. To develop modern electronic games one has to be prepared mentally. One’s mind must be equipped with the right attitude, knowledge, and skills. In this series of blog entries, I will attempt to touch on the knowledge required to make games.

Video games are made of code (programming) and contents (art, music, etc). Both require different sets of skills.

Code

The code components of a game collectively make the game engine. The game engine comprises of many components or sub-systems, each having distinct functionalities. To implement each of these subsystems require knowledge from different field of studies. I will try to go into as much details as possible in this section.

Note: Some game engines are designed to be reused. Usually these reusable game engines have their game-specific and non-specific components isolated.

Starting with the next post i will attempt to divide the game engine subsystems and discuss knowledge related to each one.

New Blog and Day

2005-01-31T00:41:00.000+08:00

On today, the 30th of January 2005, a new Blog was born - Slade on Game Development. And it is a good day, here at Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. It is a day that began at 00:00AM military time when I continued work the night before on a real-time Macromedia Flash computer game.

Before we get on with the games, it is very important that I do a one-time introduction of myself. My name is John Tan Ching Tsan, or just John. I am born twenty years ago in Assunta Hospital, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. I am now a university undergraduate, freshman of Multimedia University, Cyberjaya campus, pursuing a degree in Software Engineering and Games Design. To cut myself short - I see myself as a thoughtful, unconventional and multifaceted individual who finds it difficult to express my thoughts as articulately as I wish and need.

And to further cut myself short I would like to get on with what this blog is all about. I have thought about what to write here – and it won’t be just anything. I will try my best to only write about game development here. Here you will find my opinions, rants and raves on the world-wide and Malaysian game industry. You will occasionally find links to tutorials I found or wrote about game development in different platforms and systems. Ultimately this blog is a journey of my long pursuit of a career in this amazing field.