Pieter Germishuys

Game Development Hot Labs using DirectX

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: 29^th 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: 27^th 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: 24^th 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: 29^th 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: 26^th 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