Well I've completed my initial sound tests which included a looping sound effect for the ambient underwater noise as well as a full deploy to the 360 and all went relatively well.
The sound levels need to be worked out but they were all definately there.
I'm still having some horizontal 'stretching' issues going on with all the graphics that I'll have to look into. It would make a certain amount of sense with the background stretching...but all the graphics...something weird is going on.
But yea for sound!
Monday, July 6, 2009
And then there was sound
I've got a pretty decent amount of experience with audio creation in my past. So I have to admit, it is a little bit of a relief to step away from the "bold/new" of C# and get back on more familiar ground of music and sound effects.
Even being more familiar to me, I was a little concerned about getting audio into XNA with all the posts and questions/troubles that I've seen people had about audio on the forums. Luckly...so far, knock on wood, things are going remarkably smoothly. Honestly, I really like the authoring tool.
I've created a few simple sounds for the gameplay and the UI, create a few variations on certain sound effects and tweek volume and pitch levels so it all blends together correctly. The two remaining big steps I have to take with the audio are longer audio files, such as background music, and testing out the files on the 360. But so far, everything has worked out painlessly on the PC.
Even being more familiar to me, I was a little concerned about getting audio into XNA with all the posts and questions/troubles that I've seen people had about audio on the forums. Luckly...so far, knock on wood, things are going remarkably smoothly. Honestly, I really like the authoring tool.
I've created a few simple sounds for the gameplay and the UI, create a few variations on certain sound effects and tweek volume and pitch levels so it all blends together correctly. The two remaining big steps I have to take with the audio are longer audio files, such as background music, and testing out the files on the 360. But so far, everything has worked out painlessly on the PC.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Kodu Fun
For those of you aspiring game designers out there (especially the ones without a masters degree in programming), I highly recommend checking out the "Kodu Game Lab" available for the xBox 360 on the Live Marketplace.
It released last week and is a great way for starting game creators to get their ideas going. All authoring is done on the 360 through a series of circular menus and iconic programming. The programming feels very "LEGO". It's very easy and quick to get a game up and running.
There are of course limitations. You're not going to be creating Halo any time soon on Kodu, but for simple games it's a lot of fun. There are currently around 200 3d assets to choose from (I've heard...but personally I find that number a little high) and the dev crew did a good job of creating assets for a wide range of games (sports, racing, shooter, platformer...etc.). It's a little like going to Toys R Us and grabbing a lot of generic playing pieces out of the board game isle and throwing them all in a box
There is a free trial, but the program itself is $5.00, but well worth it for the time you'll spend playing around.
Hopefully in the future they'll release 'asset packs' which will enable you to have even more items to play with.
It released last week and is a great way for starting game creators to get their ideas going. All authoring is done on the 360 through a series of circular menus and iconic programming. The programming feels very "LEGO". It's very easy and quick to get a game up and running.
There are of course limitations. You're not going to be creating Halo any time soon on Kodu, but for simple games it's a lot of fun. There are currently around 200 3d assets to choose from (I've heard...but personally I find that number a little high) and the dev crew did a good job of creating assets for a wide range of games (sports, racing, shooter, platformer...etc.). It's a little like going to Toys R Us and grabbing a lot of generic playing pieces out of the board game isle and throwing them all in a box
There is a free trial, but the program itself is $5.00, but well worth it for the time you'll spend playing around.
Hopefully in the future they'll release 'asset packs' which will enable you to have even more items to play with.
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