Comments for Mach X Games Blog http://machxgames.com/blog Adventures in Indie XNA Game Development Sat, 12 May 2012 10:28:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Speech Bubble Sample by Mach X Games http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=118#comment-7944 Mach X Games Sat, 12 May 2012 10:28:53 +0000 http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=118#comment-7944 Sure, go ahead and use it if it'll help you. Sure, go ahead and use it if it’ll help you.

]]> Comment on Speech Bubble Sample by Juan Santos http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=118#comment-7911 Juan Santos Sat, 12 May 2012 04:39:46 +0000 http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=118#comment-7911 Hi Jim, thanks for the tutorial. I wanted to ask if I can use your code for my XNA game? Thanks. Hi Jim, thanks for the tutorial. I wanted to ask if I can use your code for my XNA game? Thanks.

]]> Comment on Reading XML file data in an XNA game by MrCorzell http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=21#comment-7340 MrCorzell Wed, 02 May 2012 07:25:52 +0000 http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=21#comment-7340 The LINQ expressions are a bit more in the functional language paradigm than most C#. You're essentially doing a select (like in SQL) on any Room element and building that up into an IEnumerable which then you simply are saying .ToList() on to get the final result that is more digestable for the game. The same goes for the items inside each room. The functional / imperative mix of C# can be quite tricky at first if you've never seen a functional language. The LINQ expressions are a bit more in the functional language paradigm than most C#. You’re essentially doing a select (like in SQL) on any Room element and building that up into an IEnumerable which then you simply are saying .ToList() on to get the final result that is more digestable for the game. The same goes for the items inside each room. The functional / imperative mix of C# can be quite tricky at first if you’ve never seen a functional language.

]]> Comment on When will the next evolutionary step in MMOs come? by Garold http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=103#comment-6964 Garold Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:35:13 +0000 http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=103#comment-6964 I agree with everything you have said about the ridiculous MMO systems. Although I working on a standard FPS game at moment, I am working towards building an XBOX MMO where you can play your own world or help out in a friends world. I plan to use procedural generation for the planet, vegetation, cities, quests and NPCs. All of this is very possible. With a butterfly effect based on basic survival criteria. For example: You kill a farmer, the crop dies, the local store has to import food, the caravan bringing grain is attacked by starving orcs. People in the town begin stealing from each other. You get hired as a bodyguard to protect the store or caravan. I can envisage a system that would work. It would require many many more NPC than PC. The main doubts I have are: Do players enjoy grind and being fed quests? They even look up how to do the quest on youtube and then walk through it! I fear most MMO players are simply addicts. I agree with everything you have said about the ridiculous MMO systems.

Although I working on a standard FPS game at moment, I am working towards building an XBOX MMO where you can play your own world or help out in a friends world.

I plan to use procedural generation for the planet, vegetation, cities, quests and NPCs. All of this is very possible. With a butterfly effect based on basic survival criteria.

For example:

You kill a farmer, the crop dies, the local store has to import food, the caravan bringing grain is attacked by starving orcs. People in the town begin stealing from each other. You get hired as a bodyguard to protect the store or caravan.

I can envisage a system that would work. It would require many many more NPC than PC.

The main doubts I have are:

Do players enjoy grind and being fed quests? They even look up how to do the quest on youtube and then walk through it! I fear most MMO players are simply addicts.

]]> Comment on Reading XML file data in an XNA game by jeffery http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=21#comment-6502 jeffery Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:55:00 +0000 http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=21#comment-6502 It seems your getting room which is descending down from rooms item is my guess but still confused. It seems your getting room which is descending down from rooms item is my guess but still confused.

]]> Comment on Reading XML file data in an XNA game by jeffery http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=21#comment-6501 jeffery Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:53:23 +0000 http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=21#comment-6501 how do i know about how this works? from room in doc.Descendants("Room") select new Room() how do i know about how this works?
from room in doc.Descendants(“Room”)
select new Room()

]]> Comment on An option for indie MMO development by Chris http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=57#comment-6083 Chris Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:58:55 +0000 http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=57#comment-6083 Hero cloud's art pipeline... Horrible and on top of that their scripting language is disastrous. They made their own scripting language intending to make it easier for non-programmers to write scripts... HOWEVER if you are used to actual programming it is like every programmers nightmare once you get into it. Hero cloud’s art pipeline… Horrible and on top of that their scripting language is disastrous. They made their own scripting language intending to make it easier for non-programmers to write scripts… HOWEVER if you are used to actual programming it is like every programmers nightmare once you get into it.

]]> Comment on Speech Bubble Sample by Marcin Seredynski http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=118#comment-6081 Marcin Seredynski Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:41:44 +0000 http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=118#comment-6081 Oh, and the hack implementation is here if you would like to have a look: http://pastebin.com/UtfGj8P2 Oh, and the hack implementation is here if you would like to have a look: http://pastebin.com/UtfGj8P2

]]> Comment on Speech Bubble Sample by Marcin Seredynski http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=118#comment-6079 Marcin Seredynski Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:35:22 +0000 http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=118#comment-6079 More results, with my hacked-in TextureAtlas: Immediate = 30 FPS, Deferred = 120 FPS, Texture = 90 FPS, BackToFront = 60 FPS, FrontToBack = 60 FPS, With text rendering disabled: NoAtlas+Immediate = 110 FPS NoAtlas+Deferred = 105 FPS, NoAtlas+Texture = ~380 FPS, NoAtlas+BackToFront = 100 FPS, NoAtlas+FrontToBack = 100 FPS, Atlas+Immediate = 105 FPS, Atlas+Deferred = ~500 FPS, Atlas+Texture = ~300 FPS, Atlas+BackToFront = ~350 FPS, Atlas+FrontToBack = ~350 FPS, It turns out that most of the time is spent drawing text. XNA's SpriteFont doesn't shine here. More results, with my hacked-in TextureAtlas:

Immediate = 30 FPS,
Deferred = 120 FPS,
Texture = 90 FPS,
BackToFront = 60 FPS,
FrontToBack = 60 FPS,

With text rendering disabled:

NoAtlas+Immediate = 110 FPS
NoAtlas+Deferred = 105 FPS,
NoAtlas+Texture = ~380 FPS,
NoAtlas+BackToFront = 100 FPS,
NoAtlas+FrontToBack = 100 FPS,

Atlas+Immediate = 105 FPS,
Atlas+Deferred = ~500 FPS,
Atlas+Texture = ~300 FPS,
Atlas+BackToFront = ~350 FPS,
Atlas+FrontToBack = ~350 FPS,

It turns out that most of the time is spent drawing text. XNA’s SpriteFont doesn’t shine here.

]]> Comment on Speech Bubble Sample by Marcin Seredynski http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=118#comment-6074 Marcin Seredynski Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:23:17 +0000 http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=118#comment-6074 Also, I did some testing for different SpriteSortModes. I looped through the drawing code for 3 bubbles 100 times, and here are the results on my machine: SpriteSortMode.Immediate = 31 FPS, SpriteSortMode.Deferred = 70 FPS, SpriteSortMode.Texture = 91 FPS, SpriteSortMode.BackToFront = 53 FPS and incorrect rendering, SpriteSortMode.FrontToBack = 50 FPS and incorrect rendering, While tempting, the SpriteSortMode.Texture, is not the mode you would want to use for HUD drawing. Also, I did some testing for different SpriteSortModes. I looped through the drawing code for 3 bubbles 100 times, and here are the results on my machine:

SpriteSortMode.Immediate = 31 FPS,
SpriteSortMode.Deferred = 70 FPS,
SpriteSortMode.Texture = 91 FPS,
SpriteSortMode.BackToFront = 53 FPS and incorrect rendering,
SpriteSortMode.FrontToBack = 50 FPS and incorrect rendering,

While tempting, the SpriteSortMode.Texture, is not the mode you would want to use for HUD drawing.

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