Baba Blacksheep's Gamedev blog

Twenty Years of Mastery

2009-11-15T16:14:00.000-08:00

This has nothing to do with video games, but since I'm one of those fans who remembers how he played a delightful flick off the backfoot through midwicket off Waqar Younis to reach 4000 runs in ODIs, I needed to say something

Cricinfo's Surfer has a roundup of all the tributes.

And as a token nod to videogames, it seems the man is a champ at Snake

Fast Fourier Transform in Actionscript

2009-06-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

As part of the beat detection required for The Rhythm Game With No Name, I had to put together an FFT function that could be used on any portion of the song. Flash does have a function to do this but AFAIK it can only work on the portion of the song that is playing. Anyways here's a function that can be used on any array of floats

   private function FFT(dir:Number, m:Number, x:Array, y:Array):void
 
    {
     //trace('Getting FFT');
     var n:Number; var i:Number;  var i1:Number;
     var j:Number; var k:Number; var i2:Number; 
     var l:Number; var  l1:Number; var  l2:Number;
     
     var c1:Number; var c2:Number; var tx:Number; var ty:Number; var t1:Number; 
     var t2:Number; var u1:Number; var u2:Number; var z:Number; 
     
      n = 1;
   for (i=0;i<m;i++) 
    n *= 2;
   // n = m;
    
    /* Do the bit reversal */
    //trace("Bit Reversal");
     i2 = n >> 1;
     j = 0;
     for (i=0;i<n-1;i++) {
     if (i < j) {
     tx = x[i];
     ty = y[i];
     x[i] = x[j];
     y[i] = y[j];
     x[j] = tx;
     y[j] = ty;
     }
     k = i2;
     while (k <= j) {
     j -= k;
     k >>= 1;
     }
     j += k;
     }
     
     
     
       /* Compute the FFT */
     c1 = -1.0; 
     c2 = 0.0;
     l2 = 1;
     for (l = 0; l < m; l++) {
    //  trace('FFTing at ' + l + ' of ' + m);
     l1 = l2;
     l2 <<= 1;
     u1 = 1.0; 
     u2 = 0.0;
     for (j=0;j<l1;j++) {
     for (i=j;i<n;i+=l2) {
     i1 = i + l1;
     t1 = u1 * x[i1] - u2 * y[i1];
     t2 = u1 * y[i1] + u2 * x[i1];
     x[i1] = x[i] - t1; 
     y[i1] = y[i] - t2;
     x[i] += t1;
     y[i] += t2;
     }
     z =  u1 * c1 - u2 * c2;
     u2 = u1 * c2 + u2 * c1;
     u1 = z;
     }
     c2 = Math.sqrt((1.0 - c1) * 0.5);
     if (dir == 1) 
     c2 = -c2;
     c1 = Math.sqrt((1.0 + c1) * 0.5);
     }

     /* Scaling for forward transform */
     if (dir == 1) {
     for (i=0;i<n;i++) {
     x[i] /= n;
     y[i] /= n;
     }
     }
    }

And here is how you use it. First we load extract the song into a ByteArray. Then we read in 1024 samples from the ByteArray (using readFloat) and call the FFT function on those arrays. To perform the FFT on a different portion of the song, simply set the read position of the ByteArray accordingly.


 s = new Sound(soundToLoad);
var extractLength:Number = Math.floor ((s.length * 88.2));
s.extract(bytes, extractLength);    


fftx = new Array(1024);
ffty = new Array(1024);

for (j = 0; j < 1024; j++)
{
 if (bytes.bytesAvailable)
 {
  fftx[j] = bytes.readFloat();
  ffty[j] = bytes.readFloat();
 }
}

FFT(1,10,fftx,ffty)

The Rhythm Game With No Name

2009-06-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

The title does not refer to this abomination but to a new game I've embarked upon. I recently played Bit Trip Beat and the game is so bloody brilliant that it has forced me to try my hand at making a game where the levels get generated based on any mp3 you throw at it (a la Audiosurf). The general idea for now is to have a bunch of minigames that get presented to the player in a rapid sequence.

There seems to be a wealth of literature out and the thing I first did was implement the ideas suggested here

Thankfully, with the release of Flash Player 10, Adobe lets you get at the bits in a song (earlier versions only let you access spectrum information for the particular slice that was playing).

Initial thoughts on the gamedev article: It worked brilliantly for "I Turn My Camera On" (by Spoon) and not so good for messier songs (Head like a hole). Its highly unlikely that the output from these is going to be as good as the hand-coded patters you see in Guitar hero/rock band.

The Adventures of Jonas and Johan

2009-02-08T07:36:00.000-08:00

I managed to attend the 1st ever global game jam at the Detroit center. The theme was "As long as we're together, we'll never run out of problems". The other constraint was that the game should last no more than 5 minutes. The game I came up with is "The Adventures of Jonas and Johan" (thanks to Clarence Rice for the artwork). You can play it here or here. It is undertweaked and underpolished but something promising lies underneath.I spent a bit of time learning how to use the Box2D engine and plan to spend some more time fiddling around with it.

Global Game Jam

2009-01-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

There's a global game jam happening on the 30th of January. Ad-hoc teams at various locations across the globe will try and come up with something playable within a span of 48 hours. Game Jams in the past have resulted in some buzz-generating games like Rara Racer (which I liked) and Passage (which, to me is a work that has received far too much attention), so it'll be interesting to see what comes of this.

I'll probably be going to the Detroit center. Am quite looking forward to it.

Currently Playing : The Manipulator

2009-01-09T21:17:00.000-08:00

Take control/Manipulate an enemy, make him kill everyone else, jump to the exit. That seems to be the gist of what you have to do in this game. It is very well presented. There doesn't seem to be a save-game option which is what made me stop playing. That, and the fact that 4 levels into the game there doesn't seem to be much use of the 'manipulate' mechanic. The platforming controls are also a bit out of tune.

Currently Playing : This is Africa a.k.a Far Cry 2

2008-11-13T03:47:00.000-08:00

Instead of writing about the gorgeous locales and graphics, or the sandbox design I just thought I'd post an entry from Qurbani Singh - The turbanator (since he resembles another patka-wearing assassin) journal.

-----

I had one mission where I'm supposed to destroy a truck that is bringing in arms supplies to the city. So go to my safe-house, set the timer to sometime around 10 pm so I can move around in the dark (and intermittently look at the spectacular moon). I wake up, hop into my vehicle. On the way I lay waste to one of the guard posts. The next guard post is across a bridge, and they spot me while I approach and open fire. My vehicle is trashed, and as I try to evade them I fall onto a ledge jutting out of a cliff, with no apparent way of getting back up to higher ground. I look down at the river flowing beneath me. Seeing no other option I dive, survive the fall, and swim to the shore. Another guard post lies somewhere ahead on the river bank. I slowly move through the grass, sneak up behind one of the guards, kill him with my machete, run, grab the boat and set off towards the area where the arms-truck is expected to arrive.

So I'm tracking the truck as its moving along its route, and about a mile away I hide behind a rock, pull out my rocket launcher. As the arms-truck approaches, I jump out fire the rocket and blast it, it flies upwards. I'm just admiring the wreckage, tires bobbling around, the nearby grass is on fire, the driver and armed guards are dead, and there's a nice message on the screen saying "Objective completed".

Then I look up, the truck is falling down, heading right towards me. Too late. I'm crushed beneath it and die.

What a game!

Hollywood Nexus

2008-11-04T02:30:00.000-08:00

After making Bollywood Nexus, I thought it would be a fairly simple matter to make a Hollywood version. Creating a 'good' database for the Hollywood version was more painful than I anticipated. The main reason is that, if you were to pick any two famous names from Bollywood, chances are that they would have worked in a movie together (Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan are the exception that proves the rule). Thats not the case for the Hollywood. So the database needed to have

a) Famous actors/actresses who are likely to have worked with each other
b) The movies they've worked in together shouldn't be too obscure.

In any event the database has been made, as well as the other minor modifications necessary. The game is up on the website.

Currently Playing : Cricket@Foddy.net

2008-10-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

The one flash game I keep returning to every other day is this cricket game up at foddy.net . Really good use of the Box2D physics engine. Nothing can beat the real feeling of creaming a gently swinging half volley through the covers, but the controls do feel quite good. The awkward style of the batsman suggests that he was modeled after either one of

1) Anil Kumble

2) Curtly Ambrose

3) Courtney Walsh could be a candidate but you'd need some special combo for his 'between-the-legs' leave.

Bollywood Nexus

2008-10-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

Bollywood Nexus is now up on the site. In the game you're presented with a puzzle where you have to guess the name of an actor/actress/movie/director based on the connections to other actors/actresses/movies/directors. I've been working on it sporadically for 3 months or so, and I'm quite happy with the way its turned out. So far I've found that I get sick of any game I work on, but I still had some enjoyment playing this game.

The game stems from an entertainment quiz my friends and I set during our final year at IIT. It did give a sense of balance to the quiz (which would otherwise have been littered with NIN references and building trivia). I'll see if I can dig up that quiz and stick it up online somewhere. The most pleasing part of the game is that it'll generate a virtually unlimited number of puzzles (obviously after having made the rather small database of names and their relationships)

Bollywood is a wonderfully incestuous industry which is what makes this game work so well. Its a bit too 'campy' which is why you'll see holy trinities like Shahrukh-Preity-Rani, or Sanjay-Salman-Dhawan popping up frequently.

Please play and give feedback

And the answer is Sunil Shetty.

Currently Playing : Audiosurf and Trials 2

2008-09-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

Audiosurf and Trials 2. Both are quite brilliant. Audiosurf is probably the ideal indie game. Chris Crawford, founder of the GDC, once said how games should aspire to be process-intensive rather than data intensive (read about that here). This is probably more relevant to an indie developer who can't afford to spend time 'creating data' (such as manually placing markers on a Guitar Hero track and licensing popular songs). I'd also venture to say that it would have been a lot of fun to design, constantly pruning the ruleset and then testing it out to see the results on various songs.

'Nuff has been said about Trials 2 over at RPS. I love the fact that they actually modeled the effect of the shock absorbers on the rear wheel. Lean back, accelerate, and at the edge of the ramp lean forward to get a boost. Which means that you can now have courses involving all sorts of crazy jumps. I'm also glad that they didn't have a 'Choose your Avatar' screen, or allow you to add decals to your bike or any such nonsense.

Audiosurf and Trials 2. Both are quite brilliant. Both are on Steam at 10$ apiece. Go buy.

New Website

2008-08-14T03:08:00.000-07:00

After months of dilly-dallying I finally signed up for a web hosting package and a domain name. All games will now be published at http://www.babablacksheep.in

RPS:The Game, Pen Fight, and some rhythm game are up on the site. The coolest thing though is the game gallery with the rollover effect (shamelessly lifted from Orisinal). Thats the only eye-candy I'd like to have for now.

The next game in the pipeline is shaping up well and I'll post about it once it reaches a decent state.

Rock Paper Shotgun : The Game

2008-05-23T03:08:00.000-07:00

In order to see how much my flash-skills have progressed I thought of trying to make a game in an hour. Since the website I happened to be browsing at the time was Rock,Paper, Shotgun I thought I might as well make a game called Rock, Paper, Shotgun : The Game . Its a regular rock paper scissors game, with a minor twist - a shotgun has a chance of appearing at the last second, and of course the shotgun reigns supreme.

Kieron Gillen, not to be outdone by Penny Arcade, posted it on RPS. along with a strategy guide and back-story.

And you thought this was good.

Pen Fight - Finalist !

2008-03-18T02:47:00.000-07:00

Pen Fight , my entry to the 5th Casual gameplay design competition got selected as a finalist. I don't think it has the depth and complexity of some of the other entries but it is quite simple and fun to play. Winners will be announced by the judges at the end of a 3 week period. Till then, the games are up there at jayisgames.com for everyone to play. The theme of the competition was 'upgrade'.

Here's the direct link to my game
http://www.babablacksheep.in/PenFight.html

This was more or less the best I could come up with given work and time constraints. I think that the core gameplay mechanic is working well. I have some ideas on how to build on that so that there is more depth to the whole thing.
Expect a Pen Fight ! Redux in the coming weeks.

The Rhythm Game With No Name

2007-12-19T01:04:00.000-08:00

This is a prototype of rhythm game I've been working on. It is terribly unpolished and has a very
bumpy difficulty curve. You can play here. I'd recommend starting off with "Chak De Phattey".