I have been speaking to IT Intellect to run some Game Development Hot Labs here in South Africa and well, the meeting was a huge success and our first lab is on the 29th of April 2006. The labs will be focussed on getting a framework up and running and developing games with it. These dates are subject to change.
The Labs will be free of charge. Come and have some fun
PS: Hope to see alot of you there.
INITIAL MEETING AND INTRODUCTIONS
What do you want out of
these hotlabs?
What is DirectX?
What is Direct3D?
TOPIC: SETTING UP A WINDOW AND DIRECT3D
TIME: 9:00 – 12:00
DATE: 29th of April 2006
VENUE: IT Intellect (Musgrave, Durban)
Probably one of the most
interesting parts in the DirectX set of APIs is Direct3D. Setting up the window
and the device is our main goal for the beginning of this course.
Topics that will be covered
are the following
-
Setting up the
window
-
Setting up the
device
-
Understanding
transformations
-
Understanding
vectors
-
Rendering a
triangle
-
Spinning a
triangle
-
Rendering a quad
TOPIC: WORKING TOWARDS TETRIS
TIME: 9:00 – 12:00
DATE: 27th of May 2006
VENUE: IT Intellect (Musgrave, Durban)
Tetris, probably one of the
most well known games on earth. We are going to attempt to recreate this
awesome game and learn some of the DirectX components that can help us on the
way.
Topics that will be covered
are the following.
-
A good knowledge
of the previous topics covered in the “setting up a window and Direct3D” series
-
Rendering some
text for scores
-
Working with
DirectInput (Controlling the blocks)
-
Getting sounds
to play (Dropping blocks make a sound)
-
Simple collision
detection to see whether a line was formed
TOPIC: WORKING TOWARDS BREAKOUT/ARKANOID
TIME: 9:00 – 12:00
DATE: 24th of June 2006
VENUE: IT Intellect (Musgrave, Durban)
Dropping blocks was fun but
we need to get some real interaction going. Arkanoid was a game that allowed
the player to control a paddle and to prevent the ball from dropping. In
addition to not dropping the ball, the player had to hit blocks the resulted in
bonuses dropping from the blocks that were hit.
Topics that will be covered
are the following
-
A good knowledge
of the previous topics covered in the “working towards tetris” series
-
Intermediate
response to colliding objects. Deflecting the ball off of the paddle must
result in a new angle
TOPIC: WORKING TOWARDS PACMAN
TIME: 9:00 – 12:00
DATE: 29th of July 2006
VENUE: IT Intellect (Musgrave, Durban)
Pacman introduced some very
interesting concepts such as Artificial Intelligence and maps. Although Pacman
only has one map, we still need to do boundary checks.
Topics that will be covered
are the following
-
A good knowledge
of the previous topics covered in the “working towards arkanoid” series
-
Loading maps
-
Intermediate
collision detection
-
Introduction and
implementation to Artificial Intelligence
TOPIC: WORKING TOWARDS SPACE INVADERS
TIME: 9:00 – 12:00
DATE: 26th of August 2006
VENUE: IT Intellect (Musgrave, Durban)
Space Invaders added an
exciting twist. The player has a few barriers and has to eliminate all the
enemies before they reach the bottom and take out the player. The enemies
fly/march down a row and keep on speed up as they progress.
Topics that will be covered
are the following
-
A good knowledge
of the previous topics covered in the “working towards pacman” series
-
Loading Maps
-
Intermediate
collision detection
-
Artificial
Intelligence