GFX Solitaire Unleashed!

Finally, it’s ready to go! My first game ever, the first fully working version of GFX Solitaire is now ready for a test drive.

The game has its own homepage now at this address: http://gfxonline.wordpress.com/gfx-solitaire/

Comments, questions, notes, and discussions are more than welcome. You can find my contact information in the “About” page. Please try the game and tell me what you think of it. Your feedback is important to me.

This game is my first step into game programming. And I am very excited to share it with you. I hope you like it.

GFX Solitaire Coming Soon…

Finally, I’ve reached the last development stage of my first game ever, the GFX Solitaire! Not an original name but who cares anyway.. It IS a fully working clone of the famous Solitaire game (a.k.a Solitaire Klondike).

I’m using the all-so-useful Microsoft XNA Game Studio platform, which serves basically as an interface between VS.NET and the CLR. However, the game programming concepts of XNA and DirectX are basically the same.

The combination of XNA and VS.NET is very useful to beginners like me. As VS.NET provides a “managed” code environment and all the advantages of C#, while XNA provides the skeleton base needed for any kind of game, 3D or 2D, plus a comprehensive set of programming and math tools..

Putting all the technical details aside, I’m very excited to bring out this game to life, not only because it’s my first game ever, but because it gave me a solid understanding of the basic principles of game programming, which is a huge achievement considering the lack of any game programming courses in the region.

Comments or questions about this game are most welcome, and I’m more than ready to share code snippets, algorithms, and more technical details on demand.

The game should be ready and kicking in less than a week (if nothing goes wrong), so check back soon for updates. In the meantime feast your eyes on this delicious screenshot:

A screenshot of GFX-Solitaire

Game of the Month: Mirror’s Edge!

Yes.. Even though the year is just starting, I think we already have a winner on our hands.

Mirror’s Edge is actually a “running game”. A game where running and momentum is your main and primary weapon. If you know what “Parkour” is, then you know what I’m talking about. It’s basically a Parkour simulation.

Mirror’s Edge is hard to categorize, maybe an action adventure would be the closest match. But that’s not an issue.

The strongest point of the whole game is the ability to transfer the Parkour experience to your living room, with basically the same adrenaline rush that usually come with it.

The exceptional visual design is also a true example of those games that are able to convey an artistic message. It also plays a vital role in the overall immersing gaming experience. The use of strong, contrasting colors is a clever innovative technique that was used to highlight the route that you have to take throughout the game, and also to represent your mission, or more precisely your goal to bring back the stolen colors to a monochromatic world.

The game uses a beautifully crafted first-person perspective. Which is crucial to the experience, and really puts you in charge of your character’s movement and momentum. It is so close -in general- to the game “Portal”, released last year. Bringing the same jaw-dropping experience through a totally new gameplay concept. I believe it’s going to be as much influential to game design as Portal was.

Mirror’s Edge deserves an award for being innovative, and for offering a simplistic yet clean and efficient visual presentation. For more information on the game, check out the official website.

Pros:

• Stunning visual presentation.
• Great innovative gameplay experience.
• Fluid and realistic animation.
• Great musical score, and SFX.

Cons:

• Story mode is a bit short.
• Not enough information on the main characters.
• Too much gun combat.

A screenshot from Mirror's Edge

A Sad Day: ACES Closed, FS Abandoned!

Today, Microsoft officially announced the closure of ACES Studios, the development studio behind the successful Flight Simulator franchise.

MS had to make this move following the announcement of a 5000 staff cuts. A 1400 cuts to be done immediately. ACES took the largest hit, when about 100 of its staff lost their jobs in the blink of an eye, which led to a closure of the whole studio and its development projects, which include the next version of Flight Simulator, and Train Simulator 2.

It’s a sad news for me, and for those who lost -or will lose- their jobs as a result of this decision. I was heavily affected by this news, because the Flight Simulator series forms the base of my gaming hobby.

I’ve been playing this game since the Flight Simulator 5.0 version on the Windows 95. The latest version is the tenth in the series’ history, following the success of a simulation program which started 25 years ago, on the Commodore 64!

Flight Simulator is the longest running franchise in the history of Microsoft. It’s even older than Windows! And, it’s also the most successful Flight Simulator ever created.

Flight Simulator is more than just a game for me. It actually helped me enjoy my dream of flying an airplane, and it also opened a window of opportunity for me to join a worldwide community of FS fans. It also was the main reason behind every single upgrade I did for my PC.

My sympathies to the crew at ACES, and to every other employee who lost their jobs due to the ongoing worldwide financial crisis.

And as the future of FS is put on hold until further notice, I have to thank each and every member of ACES for creating such a wonderful product, and for helping stretch my wings and reach for the skies. Thank you all.

The 1st Version of MS Flight Simulator

A Flood of New Games…

Here comes a new flood of brand new class-A games.. The past 2 months or so, has brought to us:

- Crysis Warhead

- Spore

- Far Cry 2

- Fallout 3

- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

- Mirror’s Edge

- Call of Duty: World at War

If you’re a dedicated gamer, you’d surely know the excitement brewing around in the gaming community as this year saw the release of many beautiful & successful games, which probably makes it the #1 year in gaming history!

The problem is, the games are installed and ready on my PC, but I can’t find the time to play any of them because of the ‘dreadful’ college!!@$!#$$ ‘nuf said..

But anyway, for all the game fanatics out there, take note, and give these titles a try. I know you won’t regret it.

Bioshock.. Freedom Within..

I have just finished playing Bioshock on the PC. I know it’s an old game, but I was hesitating to play it when it came out because it was such a creepy game, I couldn’t play for more than 30 mins sessions! I wasn’t really enjoying myself. And because I’m not a typical FPS gamer. Especially not the survival thrillers.

But, I read a lot about this game, lots of articles mentioned how this game had such a great artistic value, and an emotional story. So, being a strong fan for mature games that actually pay attention to art (more on that in an upcoming post), I just had to play it no matter what. So I reinstalled it, and started it all over. This time with a totally different mentality.

In Bioshock, you play the role of a man who was on a plane over the Atlantic. The game starts after the plane crash-lands in the middle of the ocean, and you’re the only survivor. Next to the crash site is an entrance, the entrance to an underwater city named “Rapture”.

Rapture was built by the mysterious “Andrew Ryan”, a man who believes in freedom. A man who had a dream, a great dream. To escape all kinds of governments, laws, and typical world conspiracies, and build his own city underwater! A city where everything is permitted, where the scientist could do his research without interruption, pressure, and administration. Where the artist could create art unafraid of boundaries, and censorship.

Rapture is basically a place for everyone to live independently, enjoy their freedom, and forget the mishaps of the outside world! And as “Andrew Ryan” himself would put it; “It was not impossible to build Rapture on the bottom of the ocean, it was impossible to build it anywhere else!”