Editorial - November 2010

There is just one downside to being the editor of The Game Creators Newsletter, and that is my exclusion from the regular competitions held and the huge array of prizes on offer. My first taste of game programming challenges was the hugely successful Alienware competition back in 2004 and it had me instantly hooked. Since then there have been numerous opportunities from Snake and Rail game remakes to full-blown Physics showcases. We shouldn't forget of course the ongoing community-led efforts including the Coding Challenges, 3D Modeling and Best Of The Best FPS Creator games.

Regardless of my inability to take part these days, I still take copious amounts of inspiration from the entries and the dedication shown by each and every game we see. I find myself coding a few more ideas and experimenting with some of the concepts that have materialised. Even if you haven't had the opportunity to submit an entry this time around, I urge you to realise the possibilities that have been presented, and to look out for the next chance to challenge yourself.

This month you'll find all of the winning entries and the judges comments. There's advice from the podium and lots of reasons to be inspired. You'll also find news on model packs, product updates, new offerings and tutorials.

Until Next Time,

contents

(1) Netbook Competition (2) Sky Boxes (3) TGC on AppUp (4) DarkBASIC Pro (5) DarkNet 2 (6) DarkGDK (7) iClone 4 (8) FPSC News (9) TGC Store (10) BOTB (11) Games (12) Lee's Blog (13) YouTube (14) From the Forums (15) Winner

Games for Netbooks Competition

  

And the Winners are...

After a gruelling few weeks for the entrants, their entries are submitted, the Intel judges have pored over the games and the decisions have been reached. There are winners in four categories; Best  all-round Netbook Game, Best Graphics for Netbook, Best Gameplay for Netbook and Best Standout Game Element. Without further ado, here are your winners.

Best All Around Netbook Game

1st Prize - Astrodude by Carlos Wilkes

Prize: an all expenses paid vacation to the value of US $5,000

Have everything you understand about physics tested to the maximum in this 2D physics-based driving game. It's a tried and tested formula but with a twist. Set in an extra-terrestrial environment with just enough gravity to keep you planet-bound, the camera view is fixed to the orientation of your dune buggy. Rather than lose your vehicle and starting again when you overturn it, your whole world is turned upside down too. You'll have to wrestle with recovering your vehicle whilst baffled by working out the physical aspects in a upturned world.

Bob Duffy, our Intel judge, reports "Astrodude scored the highest across the board. Well done graphics, good game play for a netbook...'track pad' swipe for a boost is brilliant."

This competition has allowed Carlos to view his work in a different light. "I've never actually sold any of the games I've made before, and as this competition is so closely tied to the Intel AppUp store I hope to change that. I was going to make a game for the store regardless, but winning the prize of recognition in the AppUp community will certainty help a lot".

Best Graphics for Netbook

1st Prize - Last Stand by Steven Holding

Prize: US $1,000, visibility and recognition via a feature in the Intel AppUp Developer Program Community as well as the TGC community.

This is an alternative take on the Shoot-em-up game. Rather than hunting down the enemy zombies, your Last Stand involves holding your ground and shooting anything that lunges out of the shadows at you. The graphics are - as the prize category suggests - excellent, adding fantastic atmosphere to a simple concept. Work your way through a number of levels in different backdrops and using a variety of weapons.

Bob Duffy's comments are "For graphics Last Stand was well done for the netbook.  It seemed to be the most sophisticated. They helped on rendering by limiting the camera and game play, and that works for netbook."

2nd Prize - Chalk Invaders by Mike Musson

Prize: Intel Atom processor based netbook, visibility & recognition via a feature in the Intel AppUp Developer Program Community as well as the TGC community.

We need to look back to the eighties to describe this new presentation of an all-time classic. Imagine drawing a game of Space Invaders on a chalk board, frame by frame, and using stop-motion photography to create a film of the results. Chalk-smears add to the confusion as the aliens, bullets and player swipe along the board. In an ingenious twist, your ship is redrawn on the board with a stick of chalk each time you lose a life. The game is enhanced by bonus pods which fall from the alien ranks and increase your bullet-firing power with increased firing power and swirling bullet patterns.

The comment from Bob Duffy is "Like The Last Stand, Chalk Invaders gets a nod here because of the clever approach to the classic. It is a dead-on look to the original with a twist. As it is a remake of an existing game, it made it just too hard to give it the overall win."

"Winning this competition means I can finally introduce myself to people as an Award Winning Game Developer" says Mike. "Plus, the netbook prize will make it much easier to test and develop future Intel AppUp games."

 

3rd Prize - Isle of Dead by Max Plooi

Prize: Visibility & recongnition via a feature in the Intel AppUp Developer Program Community.

Embracing the strapline of this competition, Max has sunk into the depths of the sewers to create a Zombie-chasing shoot-em-up. The aim is simply to survive the onslaught which is made all the more difficult by the flesh-eating antics of the enemy, which stop you in your tracks until you've dealt with the immediate danger. There is also a custom mode where you set your own time limits, enemy speed, health and so forth.

I asked Max to tell me what it meant to him to be part of the winning developers in a competition like this with prestigious sponsors. "I am very happy with the prize I won, it isn't the money or a netbook, but recognition is one of the best things you can get" says Max. "It will help me a lot with getting accepted to the study I want to follow (game design/game technology). Since only 1 out of 8 people will be accepted, you really need a good portfolio and having a prize winning game in your portfolio is always good."

"Winning a prize also stimulates me to continue developing, because now I know that there are people out there that like what I make" 

Best Gameplay for a Netbook

1st Prize - Shape Wars by Cliff Kamarga

Prize: US $1,000, visibility and recognition via a feature in the Intel AppUp Developer Program Community as well as the TGC community.

This is a simple game with some great game play. You're in a world of primary shapes and have to blast your way through. It's just the sort of game to fill a few spare minutes between meetings, on the train or when you simply need a distraction. In this respect, it fulfills the criteria of creating a game that is designed for the Netbook.

Our judge at Intel, Bob Duffy says "Shape wars is a silly game of sorts, but the game play is very natural on a netbook. So despite the graphics being very simple the game play was the least clunky and most achievable for the netbook".

Cliff has consolidated his knowledge into this game and completed the competition with a little more confidence in his studies. "I was so honoured to have won Best Gameplay in the Games for Netbooks competition because being a Game Design student, I always want to design and create games with excellent gameplay and unique mechanics. As for the prize, it will probably help me enter more competitions in the future".

2nd Prize - Search Lite by Steven Holding

Intel Atom processor based netbook, visibility & recognition via a feature in the Intel AppUp Developer Program Community as well as the TGC community.

This is the all time classic Wordsearch puzzle translated from paper to the netbook. In keeping with the traditional method of play, you draw a line through the words as you find them and they are automatically crossed from the list. There are easy, medium and hard puzzles to play. The ambience of the game is very relaxed and stress-free.

"It really means a lot to me as someone fairly new to writing games", says Steven when asked about the accolades he received throughout this competition. "I have dabbled here and there over the years but only really got the ‘bug' about two years ago. Having people from the industry rate my games is something I never hoped to achieve. Having the netbook I won will make a huge difference to producing games for AppUp as I'll actually be able to test them on the intended platform and see how they ‘feel' to be played! I'm already working on finishing several other projects for AppUp and this prize in particular will really help me to get them up and running nicely before I submit them."

3rd Prize - Dots 'n' Boxes by Shaun Wilesmith

Prize: Visibility & recongnition via a feature in the Intel AppUp Developer Program Community.

Again, this is a classic game originally played on paper and successful enough to have become a board game. Pit your wits against friends or the computer as you try to win as many boxes as possible. Be warned, the artificial intelligence employed in the game will ensure you have to fight your way to the lead.

"By coming third in this competition I have proved to my self of what i am capable of doing" says Shaun. "I now feel that my programming skills have increased up to a stage where i can make more professional games."

Best Standout Game Element

1st Prize - Yump by Kenneth Bugeja

Prize: US $1,000, visibility and recognition via a feature in the Intel AppUp Developer Program Community as well as the TGC community.

The comment on this prize winner from judge Bob Duffy. "Yump menus are just too cool and too beautiful not to award.  Unfortunately they are so good the rest of the game is not to the same standard." Nevertheless the game is still an excellent entry and a fast, well presented take on the classic card game of Patience.

You can see the Yump menus in action later in the newsletter, where we have added videos of the winning games to the YouTube article.

2nd Prize - Astrodude by Carlos Wilkes

Intel Atom processor based netbook, visibility & recognition via a feature in the Intel AppUp Developer Program Community as well as the TGC community.

We've already acknowledged this game as the overall winner. It also receives recognition for the tutorial mode built into the game.

"The tutorial was a great game itself" say Bob Duffy, "I think there could be a lot to this entry if you could design your own game space. Just draw a maze, add in obstacles and different physics; this alone could be really cool."

3rd Prize - Last Stand by Steven Holding

Prize: Visibility & recongnition via a feature in the Intel AppUp Developer Program Community.

This game received its second award of the competition for the zombie attacks which form the primary visuals for the game. Being a stand and shoot style, the enemy needs to stand out more and immerse the player in the action. The eery way in which they appear from the darkness and launch into their attacks certainly achieves this.

A Helping Hand from the Winners

There is no doubt that every entrant in the competition worked hard and pushed themselves to create outstanding games. Winning a competition such as this one is not just about the game. It takes dedication, planning, imagination and a lot of hard work to stand out from the rest. Fresh from their elation, I asked our winners to help the community finetune their hard efforts and reveal their secrets to making all of the hard work pay off.

Carlos Wilkes - Simplicity, Flexibility and Madness

"The biggest thing that became apparent during development of my game is how flexible your game idea should be. For example, the rally car in my game came about purely by accident; I was trying to implement an enemy robot mech by adding wheels to a box, but that didn't really work, however I found it pretty fun to drive around and so I turned it into a rally car for no particular reason. And so my game went from what was once going to be a stealth game, to a racing one.

"The most important thing that I need to learn to start doing is to begin with a dead simple game idea that allows for later expansion and just making that. I wasted far too much time designing features for my game that I never even added. If I'd done the basic game first, polished that, then worked on extra features then my game would probably be more complete and polished than it is now. Or perhaps if I didn't design all these extra features I'd have not come up with my current idea and ended up with a worse game; who knows?

"Lastly, the biggest advantage to being an indie game developer is that you can add in whatever you like, whenever you'd like to and however much of it you want! So embrace the madness and add in your exploding pizza slices and storyline that make no sense!"

Cliff Kamarga - One Game, One Focus

"I always try to enter any competition I see and never worry about the prizes or what games other entrants will make and whether they'll be better than mine or not. I don't let other people's game discourage me from creating a game and entering it because - as a good friend of mine once told me - entering your game into a competition shows that 'I'm confident enough in my work to brave the slings and arrows of the public in a competition'.

"For me, I always try to scope my games according to the deadline and to the skills of my team members (if any). Personally, I always force myself to scope my games to finish 25% earlier than the length between when you start and when the deadline is. For example, for one of my games, the full deadline of the game was around 7 months, and so I scoped it to finish around 2 months early. In the end, not only did I end up finishing 1 week early of the 5 months deadline, but it gave me ample time to polish and even add new features into the game."

Max Plooi - Back to the Forums

Max can sum up his advice in just one line, but the advice is indispensible: "I found a lot of answers to my problems on the forums...reading all the problems and answers always helped me out".

Shaun Wilesmith - Put Your Mind to it

"At first you might think that there are lots of people entering this competition and feel that you don't have a chance. But what you have to remember is that if you enter, you are one of those people too and have just as much chance as everyone else. When you put your mind to it, you will be amazed by what you can accomplish"

Steven Holding - Start Simple, Build Later

"I guess what I've learned the most from this competition is that if you set yourself some realistic goals you can achieve much more than you might think. I started the competition writing a game that was way beyond what I could actually finish in the time I had available and made the decision to stop before it was too late and start something else. I planned out how much time I had and how long I thought it would take to finish the two games I had in mind."

"Soma was a game I had already started and knew I could finish in about a week so I still had time to start a more modest project. I devised Search-Lite and planned roughly what I wanted to put into it. In the last few weeks of the competition I realised I still had plenty of time and was nearly finished and came up with the idea for The Last Stand as a very basic ‘turn and shoot' game where the enemy AI could be very simple. It was a bit of a rush at the end but I knew I could finish the two games I originally planned so finishing the third was a bonus really! I think that if you plan a simple idea for a game you can always build on it later but getting that simple idea working well first is the key."

Kenneth Bugeja - Polish to Stand Out

"Being a long supporter of competitions organised by TGC, I take every opportunity to participate. The most important thing I have learnt through these competitions is to polish your game as much as possible. There were other gameplay elements that I wanted to include in my game but at a certain time you have to stop adding new things and focus on how to present it in the best possible way. Doing so will make your game stand out from the others."

Mike Musson - Meet your Deadline

"Don't be afraid to cut features if it means getting the product out by the deadline! These competitions are a great chance for everyone to put together a finished game, and the more games you've finished, the easier it is to finish future projects. And we all know we could use less incomplete projects lying around."

Over 200 Sky Boxes now Available

 

Four new SkyMATTER packs are now available for purchase (packs 20 to 23).

SkyMATTER Packs are designed specifically for games developers and every pack has the following features:

• Each Texture Set is in BMP or PNG format (Packs 1 to 5 are BMP, 6 to 10 are PNG)
• Texture Resolution is 512 x 512 pixels in Packs 1 to 5
• Texture Resolution is 1024 x 1024 pixels in Packs 6 to 23
• All Textures are 24-bit full colour
• Each Set consists of 6 face images (top, bottom, left, right, front, back)
• Can be used for cube mapping, spherical mapping or skyboxes
• Royalty Free - use them in your games without restriction
• Textures conform to neg x/y/z, pos x/y/z DirectX formats
• Suitable for any programming language

Example Texture Sets include:

• A Mars style red planet environment
• Cool white snowy mountains
• Dark and brooding landscapes
• Highland moor with atmospheric cloud cover
• Tranquil blue lake
• Desert rock
• Toxic Green Dusk
• Midnight Full Moon
• Alien Landscapes
• Clear blue skies with distant hills
• ... and more!

 

View the new packs and the older ones by visiting the The Game Creators Website, where you will also find more screenshots of the models and scenery in use.

Free Skybox Tutorial

We've all seen the impressive, vast expanses of scenery in games that add so much depth to the world we play in, and take it for granted. But just how do you create the illusion without killing your game speed. We know the first part of the solution is to use a skybox, but there's a few more tricks to be learnt in order to ensure the player is totally immersed. For example, we don't want to walk to the edge of the map to find our mountain range is just a huge billboard. This tutorial goes in depth to explain exactly how to create the illusion. Download it now, and remember to check out the range of skyboxes available.

Free Skybox Sample

 

 

If the skyboxes have awaknened your desires to improve your games, then why not download our sample skybox to see the impact it can make. This sample is a great indication of the quality of the textures on offer. Just visit the Sample Download page.

 

 

TGC at the Intel Developer Forum & Elements 2010

Review - Make a Game in 15 Minutes  

Sean McManus looks back at his early programming days when source code was diligently typed from magazine listings, and compares it to what can be achieved with DarkBASIC Professional. In particular he relates it to the AppUp Store and the possibility of being a highly productive independent developer. Read the review here.

Get Involved

If you're new to the AppUp store you can read up about the developer web site here - Intel's AppUp Developer site and you can download the AppUp store for netbooks here at the AppUp Centre. If you have an application that fits the criteria for a successful Netbook publication, then don't hesitate to get in touch.

DarkBASIC Professional News

Everything you need to know about both DarkBASIC Professional and FPS Creator development can now be found via Lee Bamber's Tweets. You'll get to hear about every bug fix and feature as it's implemented! In fact if you had been signed up earlier in July, you would have been notified about BETA 6 of FPS Creator while it was being uploaded for public consumption.

Start following Lee now to get the latest news about your favourite development tools as it happens.

Hands On DarkBASIC Professional goes Electronic 

For a few years now Hands On DarkBASIC Professional has been the definitive book on DarkBASIC Professional. It has a five star rating on Amazon and gets glowing comments in our DarkBASIC Professional forum. There's only ever been one complaint - the price!

Well, after many requests for the book in digital form that day has now arrived. You can download Hands On DarkBASIC Professional Volume 1 in PDF form for just over 40% of the original book price - and of course, there's no postage. It has been specifically formatted for the Kindle DX and iPad but any computer screen will do. And it's in colour!

The book is crammed with Activities to keep you busy while you learn, with complete solutions and there's even several complete games.

Volume 1 covers all the basic ideas of software design, testing and programming as well as the basic statements and everything 2D. In this book you'll learn such things as:

• The basic constructs common to almost every programming language
• How to create and test programs
• How to display images and sprites
• How to give the player control over movement and firing
• How to detect collisions
• How to add sound
• and more...

So if you are a complete beginner, or just want to increase your knowledge of one of the easiest games programming languages around just head for http://www.digital-skills.co.uk/ and download your own copy of the book for only 14.95 GBP.

 Daniel Foreman's Tutorials

Daniel has a range of tutorials in video format to speed up your DarkBASIC Professional learning curve, and allow you more time to focus on your game. This month we're featuring the 3D Orbiting tutorial, using the planet / moon example. You'll also see how mathematic principles can be circumvented using simple coding techniques. Daniel has 3 full volumes of tutorials on DVD, available from the Amazon store. The DarkPRINCIPLES DVD Multidisk set is also now out on Amazon, saving you 20% on the whole collection.

You can buy the multidisk set directly and save 30% by using the exclusive discount code MWWC69T5 at the checkout.

Dego -  Action RPG

 

Could this be the DarkBASIC Professional game with the longest playing time ever? Mike Musson (one of our Intel competition winners) has created 30 to 40 hours of gameplay in this epic RPG adventure. Features include:

• 14 unique dungeons
• Over 400 items
• Full length game, 30-40 hours
• Play with 3 friends - difficulty and treasure chests scale with player count
• Explore dungeons to find bonus quests and secret rooms
• Face off against challenging bosses
• Customise controls using input from keyboard and up to 4 gamepads
• 200 player levels to achieve

Dark Game Studio Bonanza

 

Special offer while stocks last: Dark Game Studio, Dark Physics, Dark Lights, Dark AI and Extends for an incredibly low price of $49.99. Save over $170!

Creating your own PC games is now easier than ever with this special compilation of game making tools:

• DarkBASIC Professional
• DarkBASIC Classic
• DarkGDK 
• Dark Edit
• DarkMATTER
• DarkVOICES
• DarkSHADER
• Game Creator Store
• FPS Creator FREE
• Tree Magik
• Plant Life
• Cartography Shop
• Dark Physics
• Dark Lights
• Dark AI
• Extends
• Demo Games
• Physics Demos

Order Now

Save over $170 on this special deal. Be sure to check out the screen shots and the online videos. You can of course order safely and securely online, for delivery via postal mail.

FPS Creator   -   DarkBASIC   -   2000 Store Points

DarkNet 2 Released

 

DarkNet has reached version 2 and is available from the TGC website. Existing users can download the update from their account. The key features new to this version are:

• Open source
• New detailed documentation of all commands and classes
• C++ users have access to easy-to-use and flexible internal classes
• Multithreaded encryption and decryption
• Instance profiles to make managing multiple networking instances easier
• Improvements in speed across the board
• Normal DLL for use with other languages
• Broadcasting to subnets

In addition to the changes listed, some additional updates have been made since its release in October 2010 which all users of DarkNET should download to take advantage of:

• The C++ version of DarkNet is now compatible with Visual Studio 2008 as well as 2010.
• Installer now installs header files properly for C++ users.
• .pch files included for C++ users.
• Libraries are now automatically linked in.
• Two separate versions of the library now exist, one for Visual Studio 2008 and one for Visual Studio 2010. The installer will install each depending on what versions of Visual Studio are installed on the target machine.

Any existing code will require some (minor) modifications to work with this new version. These changes will be documented on the Darknet web page.

What is DarkNet?

DarkNet is a multiplayer plugin specifically designed for use in game development. It uses both UDP and TCP protocol making it suitable for virtually any type of online game ranging from fast paced first person shooters to large scale massively multiplayer online games. It is very easy to use and well documented with several code examples. DarkNet is compatible with Dark Basic Professional, C++ and .NET compatible languages (e.g. C#, VB.NET).

DarkNet is very easy to use and is useful to programmers of all ability. Basic easy to use commands exist for beginners, whilst more advanced users can make use of additional commands intended to maximize performance. A basic server setup can be created in just a few lines of code.

You can view the full features of DarkNet - including sample code - on The Game Creators Website, where you can also purchase the product.

DarkGDK update

A new update is available for Dark GDK. This update brings Dark GDK into line with the latest version of DarkBASIC Professional. It also provides updated libraries for Visual Studio 2010 which has been a keenly requetsed update from the community.

You can download the new version from here.

There is no installer included with this upgrade - simply copy the files across to your install location and update paths within your compiler if necessary.

Cutscene Production made Simple with iClone 4

iClone4 combines real-time filmmaking & video production inside one powerful tool designed to equip any PC with a complete animation studio.

iClone is a streamlined all-in-one production tool for motion graphics, 3D animation, video compositing and innovative Stereoscopic-3D movies.

iClone is designed for storytellers with skill levels ranging from beginner to professional with an emphasis on drag & drop, what-you-see-is-what-you-get animation. Access massive 3D content to create stories, visualizations or commercial animation from Reallusion's extensive library of real-time ready 3D models or import custom 3D assets from industry standard modeling tools.

The core of iClone is character creation and animation with quick development of custom digital actors using photographs to design faces, templates to customize clothing and automatic lip-sync facial animation from any recorded audio to bring your actors to life. Blending the traditional principles of animation along with new animation concepts inspired by modern video games, iClone's play-to-create technology is a powerful platform to break into animation or take your elite skills into the real-time realm.

 

iClone 4 is available to purchase now through the Game Creators website. You could be creating the ultimate cutscenes for your games today!

 

 

FPS Creator Beta 1.18

Keen FPS Creator users have been enjoying the latest BETA version of FPS Creator. Some of the key new features they have been enjoying are;

• Water!
• Upgraded stock weapons (now the player can hold weapons with hands)
• Entity Flak
• GUI sub-system

The BETA is still being tested and feedback is welcome, so if you want to get in on early with these new additions then head on over to the forums.

Model Pack 50 - The Dungeons

Sate your dungeon dwelling desires with the catacomb/prison pack. An impressive array of architectural features will give your dungeons and catacombs a sense of character, depth and intrigue. Explore winding caverns, dusty halls and ancient dungeons with unique layered customisation options available allowing you to make your rooms as detailed as your imagination will allow!

Highly detailed textures and a wide variety of static entities will allow you to create highly detailed dungeon environments that will seam effortlessly into your other projects with minimum fuss.

• 20 Segment Pieces
• 12 Door/Window Segments
• 2 Level Alteration Segments (Steps)
• 196 Architectural Entities
• 49 Scenic Entities

The Model Pack is available to purchase from the website now priced $14.99 USD (€11.99 EUR, £9.99 GBP)

Special Offer while Stocks Last - $22.99, Save Over $150.00!

Take advantage of this whopping special offer! Get FPS Creator and 9 Model Packs for an incredibly low price of $29.99 USD (€22.00 EUR, £19.99 GBP). This deal includes:

• FPS Creator
• Model Pack 1
• Model Pack 3
• Model Pack 7
• Model Pack 11
• Model Pack 12
• Model Pack 13
• Model Pack 14
• Model Pack 15
• Model Pack 25

Click here to purchase the Bonanza pack, including FPS Creator
for just $29.99 / €22.00 / £19.99

 

The Game Creator Store - Updates and New Additions

 

New Store Additions

Rusty Car

Rusty car model good for urban, junkyard and even post apocalyptic scenes. Higher poly models help to create more realistic scenes, where they can be implemented as static entities and have a low impact on game speed.

 

 

Hazard Signs

A pack of 8 hazard signs just right for when you want to give your players a little bit of advanced warning...before they die.  

Hazards are good to add excitement to a game, but remember that unpredictable situations detract from the mission. Make it challenging, but make it possible! 

 

Female Civilian

A 'Civilian Soldier' themed character, good for urban style shooters or as mercenaries etc. This is one of two civilian characters in the set. Some animations have been customized.

Best or suggested weapon designation are Assault Rifle and Pistol.

High-Rise Building

This towering dwelling space has nine floors and can be used as a great way to edge your map. It's possible to put a sneaky sniper on a balcony!

All of the above models are available to purchase and download through the inbuilt Game Creator Store in FPS Creator and DBPro, and also using the standalone store for other game-making tools.

Pick up free Store Points

The Game Creators have teamed up with the leading providers of virtual currency; perform a few simple tasks and top up your Store points. As well as being able to take up exciting offers and receiving potentially thousands of points, there are a host of other tasks to earn rewards. Watch a movie trailer, rate search results, answer questions, tag photos or choose from a host of activities that will ultimately earn you any of the high quality models and resources to make your game shine.

Open the Store, through FPS Creator, DBPro or the standalone version. Log in to your account and select the Buy Points option. Below the regular payment options you'll find links to gWallet, Offerpal, DoubleDing and TrialPay. You'll immediately find yourself in amongst the tasks and offers available, and can start earning immediately by watching a movie trailer or two!

Upload Your Assets to The Game Creator Store

Did you know you can sell your models, segments, music and sky boxes in the Game Creator Store? We already have dozens of artists selling their media, and we welcome anyone with the talent to provide our community with quality assets to do the same. If you are interested in becoming a store seller, please contact Janet, our Store Administrator directly.

Best of the Best - Virus: The Breakout

Developer: Mark de Boer (mgarand)

6 Months Ago, the former Russian president, Poetinski Rasko, implemented the Ultra Nationalist Movement. The Rebellion Forces marched into Zariko, the loyalist headquarters. There is no way the US/NATO forces can use their Nuclear arsenal due to a High Toxicity Virus which will contaminate 97% of the Earth population, so a nuclear peace treaty was drawn up.

After 2 Months, the entire world was shocked by the sudden appearance of a rocket which contaminated several continents. Infected people go on the hunt to track down fresh meat to contaminate, the entire world is in complete chaos, and the Russian Forces immediately rush their troops into the US and Europe.

A small group in Washington were not infected and are holding out, trying to protect the President. Together with the remaining military forces in the world, they start a massive operation to protect non-infected civilians, to kill the Russian forces and to find an anti-virus.

"Ethan, we need you again. We know, your last mission was a blow-up, but we have confidence in you, you must find the anti-virus, the world is at stake!"

"Awesome! Great to see FPSC being stretched even further" - Rick Vanner, The Game Creators

 

 

Games at The Game Creators

The Game Creators have a number of games to download and enjoy, including titles from a number of independent developers. What's more, every game purchased in November 2010 will also be accompanied by a FREE copy of the PC version of Goals!, the award winning title from The Game Creators. You can already take advantage of over ten games, including:

 

Ongaku

Ongaku is a 2D rhythm action game infusing original music and stylized artwork. It has just scored 7 out of 10 in Games TM Magazine.

Progress through the fantasy kingdom of Melody; paint the worlds by popping paint bubbles in time to music. Players can also create, play and share custom levels with their own music, pictures, and videos!

 Features

• 11 brand new lusciously animated levels, each with their own new music theme.
• Auto-generate playable levels from your imported media using the Tune-O-Matic.
• Create your own levels with The Melody Maker, where you can import your favourite music track, picture or video.
• Share the levels you've created with your friends and see their creations.
• Five difficulty settings allow you to enjoy playing whatever your level of expertise.

 

Mole Control

Mole Control! The ultimate test of brains and bravery! The people of Molar Creek have lived alongside the region's infamous exploding moles for hundreds of years but the night before the village's annual Mole Control competition and a mystery villain has set the exploding moles loose within the town itself. It's now down to you and local inventor Dr Kraft to find the moles and reclaim Molar Creek...

 

Mole Control is an addictive puzzle game that brings the classic logic-based game play of minesweeper into the 21st century. Pilot a crazy invention across a mind-bending adventure to unlock the mystery behind the runaway moles, or enjoy a frantic time attack challenge in the village mole control competition! Enhance this brain teasing experience using ‘supermole' power-ups through six zones and over 35 randomly populated, totally re-playable levels - all with the comical aim to rid one town of exploding moles!

SFG Soccer

Over-the-top arcade soccer action! Bicycle kicks, headers, one-touch passes, slide-tackles, instant replays, it's all here. New enhancements include mouse controls, and a two-button 'Casual Mode' for more laid back gamers. An RPG-style leveling system is used for the multi-season Career Mode featuring 64 teams from around the world. Play co-op or solo as you lead your team all the way up to the Division one Championship Game! 

These and many more games, including some of the Classic Game Creators publications you have come to know and love (Goals! and Mr Dork) can be found on the newly created games page on the site.

Lee Bamber's Blog of the Month

This month Lee Bamber, in his own words, gets down and dirty with DarkBASIC Professional. Using a problem that Lee needs solving - identifying bitmap colour patches quickly and efficiently - we'll find out just how run-length encoding (RLE) can improve performance and expand your virtual toolset. Before we start, here's the definition of RLE from Wikipedia and how it can help us:

Run-length encoding (RLE) is a very simple form of data compression in which runs of data (that is, sequences in which the same data value occurs in many consecutive data elements) are stored as a single data value and count, rather than as the original run. This is most useful on data that contains many such runs: for example, relatively simple graphic images such as icons, line drawings, and animations. It is not useful with files that don't have many runs as it could potentially double the file size.

TGC on YouTube

You can now find a YouTube channel dedicated to The Game Creators. Any new videos published will now be found here, you can expect to find previews of new model packs and of course Lee Bamber's monthly blog.

If you have any suggestions or comments about our new channel, then log in to the forums and let us know in the YouTube feedback thread.

Make sure you subscribe so you hear about any new videos as soon as they are posted.

Video Picks of the Month - The Intel Competition Winners

Astrodude

Last Stand

 Chalk Invaders

Shape Wars

Search Lite

Dots 'n' Boxes

Yump

 

 

From the Forums

 

The Community Rules and Information thread is the most comprehensive guide to the FPSC forums you will need. It has been compiled over many weeks by KeithC. It covers 17 categories from forum Rules to finding the perfect FPSC Mod for your project.

This issue we highlight the section on Third Party Tools which you'll find in the thread.

Although FPSCreator has come a long way from it's first incarnation, some developers have pushed the limits and even gone so far as to alter the source code of FPSC. In doing so they have created "Mods" or engine modifications. These enhancements target various aspects of gameplay, graphic capabilities, and overall speed of a built FPSC creation. Depending on what you are wanting to do with your game, you'll want to shop around and check out all the different Mods available.

Please direct any questions you have about a specific Mod, to it's thread on the TGC Boards.

Below is a list of all current Mods for FPSCreator, along with a generic list of their capabilities.

S4mod

Features: S4mod is a personal mod that has been made for the low-spec to mid-range computer that features Lemur Multiplayer and Airmod.

Creator: s4real

Forum Thread: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=130878&b=21 

Price: Free

Project Blue

Features: Plymod v1.09 integrated, Airmod v06 integrated, Lemur v2 Multiplayer features integrated, s4mod integrated, Timer based logic, Lighting issues fixed and dynamic lights working, Full screen shaders(bloom,motion blur,etc), Improvement on timer system, Timeflow features, Lewis additions, and many more features

Creators: Plystire and S4Real (Current Developer: Hockeykid)

Forum Thread: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=165834&b=21 

Price: $28 USD

Mystic-Mod

Features: Uncapped Frame-rate, Timer based logic, Double map size, Recoil, New library of scripting commands, Money and banking system, and more to come...

Creator: Daniel Wright and Budokaiman (current developer)

Forum Thread: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=169649&b=33 

Price: Free

RPG Mod

Features: Inventory and cash system, Text Messages and prompts, Clues system, Quest system, Quiz system, Rank/Experience system, Generic Selection System

Creator: Flatlander (creator and developer); Blackfox and Bluefox (developers)

Forum Thread: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=168200&b=21 

Price: Free

Fenix Mod

Features: 24 new scripting conditions, 49 new scripting actions, 14 new gunspec commands, Support for Errant AI's melee and empty animations, Dark AI implementation, Timer based movement, Contains Airmod, and Horror Mo

Creator: Hockeykid

Forum Thread: http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=155710&b=21 

Price: Free

New Forum Banners 

DJ Almix started a new forum thread encouraging some new banner designs. As the last update to our bank of community-created forum artwork was in June 2006 we decided to use this to add some new talent to the library. DJ Almix has kindly coordinated, collected and supplied all of the banners submitted. We will be looking through them and all of those that fit the bill will be published very shortly. Here's a few of the entries in the meantime:

 

 

 

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Monthly Newsletter Winner - $100 voucher up for grabs every month!

Join over 2,300 TGC fans on Facebook for the chance to win a $100 gift voucher each month. Simply add yourself as a TGC Fan using the "Like" button and then actively participate in the discussions at least once a month. We'll pick a random winner from all who input into the TGC Facebook discussions. The voucher can be spent on any of the products on our site. Sign up now, and good luck!

 

A competitor will find a way to win. Competitors take bad breaks and use them to drive themselves just that much harder. Quitters take bad breaks and use them as reasons to give up.
Nancy Lopez

The Game Creators in no way endorse or support products mentioned in this newsletter that are not specifically published by them. Always check first before parting with your money. © The Game Creators Limited 2010.