Median-Cut with Floyd–Steinberg dithering in C++
One of the effects I needed for a previous game was creating nebula for outerspace. But as a pixel art game, the nebula needed to look… pixel-artsy?
C++ OpenGL Function Call Wrapping
Error handling in a state-based C API such as OpenGL in C++ can sometimes be a bit of a pain. To help me with my own graphics engine, I created this simple method of wrapping the OpenGL function pointers to report errors as they happen.
How to stream .ogg files with OpenAL in C++
When I first set out to do what the title says, I hit so many roadblocks and unforseen problems that it drove me bonkers. But eventually I figured it out. So if you’ve given up trying to work out how to stream ogg files with OpenAL, or if you just need to get it done, …
Game Engine Development: Engine Parts
In the first part of this series I talked about the Renderer and what you need to have for a simple Game Engine for the kind of games a solo hobby dev will be making. In this article I’ll go through my own engine’s parts and explain all the systems and what is involved in …
Indie Game Development Resources
I have utilized all of the below resources in order to develop games and game engines. I have only ever done this as a solo hobby game developer, so these resources may not be useful if you’re in the industry. I will add to this list as I remember or find more interesting and helpful …
Game Engine Development: Rendering
In this series of articles, I’m going to talk about developing your own game engine from scratch, from the perspective of the hobby game developer. We won’t do much actual development, there’s 100’s of websites that can teach you that (I’ll list what I know of at the end of the article). For myself, there’s …
Planning Your Game
Planning Your Game So you’re ready to make your first game, or you’re ready to make your 33rd game. The first steps are the same, plan it out into discrete peices of work that you can complete it in your spare time. For the purposes of this article, we’re going to be making a game …
Managing the Scope of Your Video Game Project
Scope-management is one of the most important things to do as a solo game developer or hobby game developer. You can’t hope to match the scope of any other games made with a team, or with a budget. Sure, your artwork may be better than anyone elses, but your programming probably isn’t. And maybe you’re …
How to get started as a Solo Gamedev
I started being interested in GameDev waaaaay back in about 1999. That’s a long time ago, more than 20 years. And in that 20 years I have released 0 games. I’ve made a lot of half-completed games, games that I could play and think were fun. I’ve even completed one game, completed in the sense that it had everything a release would need, but it wasn’t anywhere near interesting enough to release.