Knoxville Game Design

A look at various approaches for keyboard input and graphics display in QBasic. Demo code – https://github.com/levidsmith/QBasicShooter Links and Notes QBasic.net – https://www.qbasic.net/ ASCII character chart – https://www.qbasic.net/en/reference/general/ascii-table.htm Keyboard scan codes – https://www.qbasic.net/en/reference/general/scan-codes.htm DOSBox special keys – https://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Special_Keys QBasic advanced memory functions  – http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/tutorials/tuts/memory.htm Sprites in QBasic – http://www.tedfelix.com/qbasic/sprites.html Introduction to QBasic – http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/tutorials/tuts/dandd/ WikiBooks … Continue reading QBasic IO and Graphics, Knox Game Design, December 2022 →

Overview of number systems, including decimal base 10, binary base 2, hexadecimal base 16. How to convert between the number systems.  Explanation of addition and subtraction in binary. Links and Notes Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Knox Game Jam games Old Timer Peg Game by Levi Other games by Knox Developers Caverns of Evil (Steam) by Jared Labyrinth (Steam) by James Gospelgo by Danosono

Explanation of how to read text files to display objects to the screen in Unity, GameMaker, MonoGame, Godot, and SDL. Demo project – https://github.com/levidsmith/KnoxGameDesign/tree/master/textreader Links and Notes Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Introduction to the Logo programming language.  Useful for teaching functional programming to beginners.  Explanation of using “turtle graphics” to draw various shapes. Demo project – https://github.com/levidsmith/KnoxGameDesign/tree/master/logo Links and Notes Berkeley Logo Download – http://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~bh/logo.html Logo Manual – http://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~bh/downloads/ucblogo.pdf Logo Tutorial – https://el.media.mit.edu/logo-foundation/what_is_logo/logo_programming.html Logo Quick Guide – https://www.tutorialspoint.com/logo/logo_quick_guide.htm Snap! – https://snap.berkeley.edu/ Software Coding for Kids, Logo … Continue reading Logo – Knox Game Design, August 2022 →

Overview of four types of curves that can be used in game development.  Basic parabola for moving objects in an arc.  Sine function for moving objects in a wave motion.  Physics using velocity and acceleration for simulating actions such as jumping and falling.  Bezier curve for moving objects along a curved path.  Examples of functions … Continue reading Curves – Knox Game Design, July 2022 →

Overview of I-frames, invincibility, stun lock, and knock back. How these are implemented in games, statistics from examples of classic games, and demo project showing various methods for implementing invincibility time. Links and Notes Demo project – https://github.com/levidsmith/KnoxGameDesign/tree/master/iframes Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

This month’s Knox Game Design presentation topic is Enemy Behaviors. This is a look at various enemy behavior types: Back and forth (timer / collision based) Alert and chase, using distance / timer for stop chasing Move random direction and wait Orbital children, with varying radius length and orbit speed Behavior combination (orbital children and … Continue reading Enemy Behaviors – Knox Game Design, May 2022 →

Games created by Knox area developers for Spring ’22.  Theme was “delay the inevitable”. Links and Notes Cult of the Furnace by Jacob – https://gamejolt.com/games/furnace_cult/706365 Possum Blitz by Levi – https://levidsmith.com/games/possum-blitz/ Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Explanation of calculating collision between basic 3D objects (rectangular solids/cubes and spheres). Methods used can be applied to any programming language or game development environment. Review of demo Ruby code to detect collision between rectangular solids and spheres. Links and Notes Ruby 3D collision calculator – https://github.com/levidsmith/collision3d Caverns of Evil on Steam by BlackJar72 – … Continue reading Basic 3D Collision – Knox Game Design, March 2022 →

Explanation of 2D collisions for points, lines, rectangles, and circles.  Overview of each collision type along with examples and code.  Explanations are general in nature so that they can be implemented in any game engine or programming language.  Demonstration of Javascript web application that calculates collisions between the four types of objects, along with review … Continue reading 2D Collision – Knox Game Design, February 2022 →

Explanation of Dijkstra’s algorithm for finding the shortest path in a graph based on a selected starting node. Walkthrough of an example of the algorithm. Demo of implementation of Dijkstra’s algorithm in Unity and C#. Dijkstra Demo in Unity (Unity WebGL) Dijkstra Demo Source Code Links and Notes Dijkstra’s Shortest Path Algorithm – https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/dijkstras-shortest-path-algorithm-greedy-algo-7/ Dijkstra’s … Continue reading Dijkstra’s Algorithm – Knox Game Design, January 2022 →

Explanation of particle systems in Unity, along with modifiers such as emission shape, bursts, color over time, custom shapes, and size over lifetime. Demo project and code – https://github.com/levidsmith/ParticleSystemDemo Links and Notes Unity Particle System documentation – https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/ParticleSystems.html Unity – https://unity.com/ Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

Overview of the Stencyl game development environment for making 2D games.   Explanation of scenes, actors, behaviors, events, and visual coding.  Examples of a number guessing game and simple space shooter. Links and Notes Stencyl – https://www.stencyl.com/ Stencyl download archive – http://community.stencyl.com/index.php?topic=5530.0 Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

This month, Knox developers Allen, Jared, and Levi show off their games developed for Fall ’21 and more. Links and Notes Dark Crossings by Allen – https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/dark-crossings Cubic Nightmare by Jared – https://jaredbgreat.itch.io/cubic-nightmare Chester Servesalot by Levi – https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/waiter-extraordinaire John Handgonne’s wacky escapade by Jacob – https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/john-handgonnes-wacky-escapade Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster

An overview of various ways to distribute your video game.  First, a historical look at various physical media that can be used for distributing digital content.  Then a look at multiple online sites that provide hosting and marketplaces for video games. Links and Notes Itch.io – https://itch.io GameJolt – https://gamejolt.com Kongregate developer – https://developers.kongregate.com/ Newgrounds … Continue reading Distributing Your Game – Knox Game Design, September 2021 →

A look back at strategy guides for 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System and 16-bit Super Nintendo games. How to Win at Super Mario Bros The Official Nintendo Player’s Guide Dragon Warrior Strategy Guide Super Mario Bros 2 Inside Out The Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past Player’s Guide 4-Player Extra Strategy Guide Ninja Gaiden … Continue reading Strategy Guides – Knox Game Design, August 2021 →

Demonstration of how to play a sound effect in various game development environments. This presentation covers Unity, GameMaker, Godot Engine, Unreal Engine (Blueprints), and Pico-8. Source Code – https://github.com/levidsmith/SoundEffectsDemo Links and Notes Unity – https://unity.com GameMaker – https://www.yoyogames.com/en/gamemaker Godot Engine – https://godotengine.org Unreal Engine – https://www.unrealengine.com Pico-8 – https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php Frick n Frack Games – https://www.fricknfrackgames.com/ … Continue reading Adding Sound Effects to Your Game – Knox Game Design, July 2021 →

This month’s Knox Game Design covers the BXFR tool for generating sound effects for games. A look at different sound effect types, modifying sound effect properties, using the mixer to combine effects together, and an analysis for the various types of wave forms. Links and Notes BFXR – https://www.bfxr.net/ SFXR – http://www.drpetter.se/project_sfxr.html Sound Theory by … Continue reading Sound Effects with BFXR – Knox Game Design, June 2021 →

Knox Game Design had two great entries for Spring ’21.  The theme was Deeper and deeper.  Let us know if we missed your game entry and we will add it to the list! Delve Inc. by Jacob You play as a dwarf in a hastily constructed drillship delving deep into an abandoned mining plot to … Continue reading Spring ’21 Game Jam Entries – Knox Game Design, May 2021 →