I’m porting Crush the Castle from a fixed-function, OpenGL 1 renderer to a programmable, OpenGL 2 renderer. In the last couple of posts I described how I separated my initial fixed-function renderer into three distinct classes: An abstract Renderer interface that the game itself talks to A concrete implementation of the Renderer interface that uses [...]
This series of posts is about converting an existing OpenGL 1 renderer into a “dual,” abstract renderer that can speak to either OpenGL 1 or OpenGL 2 depending on what the hardware supports. In the particular case that I’m working on, I’m taking Crush the Castle, which was written for OpenGL 1 hardware on the [...]
I’ve started work on porting Crush the Castle from the iPhone/iPod Touch to the iPad. I thought I’d share some of the technical issues I’ve encountered while expanding the Crush the Castle renderer from an OpenGL 1-based system to a system that supports both OpenGL 1 and OpenGL 2. When my daughter wants the iPad [...]
A while back I posted an article on How to Get Your Game Idea Made into a Game. Since that article appeared I’ve received hundreds of emails telling me about ideas that you’d like to see made into a game. I appreciate your openness in talking about your ideas with me. I applaud your drive [...]
An awesome new update for Crush the Castle is on its way to the iPhone App Store. The update adds a whole new continent with 40 additional levels, three insane new weapons, improvements to the editor, even faster performance, and more. If you haven’t tried Crush the Castle on your iPhone or iPod Touch, the [...]
This week Crush the Castle hit the top 10 list on the iPhone App Store. I’ve helped release a dozen iPhone/iPod Touch apps in the last year and a half. Some have made money. Others have tanked. But Crush the Castle is the first to have climbed to the top echelons of iPhone apps. It’s [...]
Adventure games have enjoyed a resurgence in recent years. Online Flash portals have given the genre a new lease on life. Adventures like The Great Living Room Escape and The Scene of the Crime top the charts of web game sites like ArmorGames.com. What once looked like a dead genre is beginning to attract new [...]
User interface design is a subtle, subtle art. The smallest detail can mean the difference between an application or site that is fun to use or one that grates on the nerves. I discovered this insight the hard way, by making Flash games and iPhone apps. Often the difference between a successful app and a [...]
This summer I made a new game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. You should play it, ’cause it rules. Crush the Castle gives you a trebuchet (a sort of giant catapult) and challenges you to knock down enemy castles in as few shots as possible. If you like building things and knocking them down [...]
Also posted in iPhone, programming
A few months ago I posted a Flash movie demonstrating real-time interactive shadows in Flash. Quite a few people responded. Some offered suggestions for how to make it better. This summer I found some time to integrate some of their suggestions, along with finding other ways to improve the system. Today I’d like to show [...]
