Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Bee Game Birth!

Ya...after hours and hours of working. Finally I made it! It's Bee Game Beta Testing! I need people to test it out, finding bug, critique it, comment it and suggest it. I not going to post long here, because this post is mean for comments on the game. Everyone please comment here. I need the Comments for report.

Please get the file from me (it's just 2mb) or dowload it

Thanks :)

**EDIT**

Thank for trying! After few people help me to try it out, I fix bug which i never meet in my testing period, thank you! I fix the bug and re upload again the file, so, please download again.


Some tips here, if you got boring playing the 1st few level, change the data.txt setting, copy and paste the last level to 1st place, and taste the hard level, I found that the hard level is really challenging :)

**EDIT** **again**

Spending a sleepless night, I manage to implement sound and music, completed level to the game. But still not much bugs fixed. And this is what i present at my game application 1 class. Bee Game 2.2b

I thinking to refine the game play, provide clearer info, fix bug (a lot of them...), and implement a new game mode, score attack which play unlimited until you lose. thinking of it.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Crunch Time?

Busy Month

Yea...it's crazy month. I think people who check my blog frequently was giving up to keep check it out but nothing updated :( In order not to lose some more fans, I need to update something! Recently really crunch days. Assignments, tests, training, mother-come-event, and training are filling up most of my time. Bloging seem need 2 or 3 hours for me (Have no idea why need so much time, unless I keep typing without thinking...). Anyway, half of the things past, now just left another half in front. One of the "left" is the BeeGame for Game Application final assignment. I just left one week to complete it, polish it, send to fren to test it and write a report for it. Thinking am I going to succeed since typing this blog already making me sleepy just pass 12....damn.

Time Allocation

Thought which keep floating around my brain is "Where is my time!?". I didn't play any game recently...precisely, I didn't play any game this semester. But looking for myself now...I did nothing beside club and academic thingy, at least I thinking it is. I concluded that, I wasted my time with slack, doing nothing and doing something I cannot remember...

Seem like time is really running out if I really want to make a good game out of the BeeGame. I always have a feeling that it going to be nice and fun, I doubt it if I cannot increase my productivity. So I guess I need some good time management this week to handle 3 assignments and can present a good game (this is the reason I came MMU...what is the purpose of living if I cannot do something nice in game?).

Attendences is not important start from this week (Theoritical), so I guess I wont waste any more time with useless lectures, I'm seriously thinking that is it only CyberP and Korea Level 1 is the only worth paid subject for me this sems....(ermmm... I thought thats consider many already?). It's mean I have plenty of time to code my game this week and my other assignment as well lah.

Time allocation? Sleep, eat, drink, metabolism, walk, breath compulsary. Other time is Assignment and BeeGame~!

Last Plan for BeeGame

Entering the last week now! What'd it has so far? Just a gameplay prototype...pity. Just saw some ugly graphic, some move around, and click somewhere to move your "bee", gather flower make honey. In my opinion and original planning, actually my game play is completed 80%. Now left Enemy AI, bonus pop up, more enemy applying to the game play element.

  1. Later (Wed) is the day to implement AI for the main enemy. Have to at least make it know the way to gather enought nectra and return to the hive, dump abit which it wont always take the shortest path, smart enough which it will not fly from one corner to another. First time for my AI programming and I hope everything go right.
  2. Next day (Thurs), not much time since I predict that we going to rush Math assignment, so... PopUp power, easy thing.
  3. Friday and Saturday is special case...need to take out sometime back to Setapak to meet Lo Shyang for the game art and scan so image (If i having it that time...). Saturday morning ACM training somemore, but something need to be done...effect and animation (heavy part)
  4. Sunday, full day working is needed, to finalize the Game. Create menu, make level.
  5. If polishing is complete, send the game out for friends to test play and gather critique, so...who is voluntee?
Well... When I typing this, time is really not enough!!! Something really need to be done soon. Felt crap lah this blog...thanks you for viewing..lol


Wednesday, September 06, 2006

How Much Actually Game Developers Earn?

Dream as A Game Developer

This become my dream since the first time I was making my very 1st card game using Visual Basic when I was Junior 3. I still remember that I saw this book "Visual Basic 3.0" which is chinese version in my secondary school library. As a noob, I asked my friend a Noob question :"What's this?", my friend, Cheong if i not mistaken tell me this is something which allow me to make my own computer program in computer. I was stunned and got very exciting with the fact that I can start making my own computer program! (I think someone might finally found out why Kuan so interested in programming, Coz I actually fall in love with it in first sight. )

Then I borrow this little book back to my house, and start flip it over. (I still remember the first time i read that book is when I was doing my business in toilet :P ). I got very exciting, I learn textbox, command button, label, variable, event driven, one new thing i learn, I got myself one level higher excitement. Not to promote but I learn all flow in the 2nd time I read the book, If, While, For, Switch, and I love them. In few days, I created my 1st calculator (I don't know why but I just created it...). Some weeks after that, I made a card game which rules similiar to black jack but largest point is 9 and just draw once - "Dok Dok" I named it.

I pause programming for one year and picked it up again at my Senior 2 and made a Chinese Chess Half Board. They are kind of easy but I enjoyed making them anyway. I not wanted so bad to be a game developer at that moment. I just felt that become a game developer is my unreachable dream. I love playing game and amaze of how to make such a cool game (StarCraft, Quake 3, Final Fantasy) but I learn very less knowledge of game development and have a very very high view of that job. I thinking that become someone who making game is the hardest thing I will achieve in my life. That I will say it as my hidden true dream :)

Now, I am on my way to my hidden-true-unreachable dream. Initially my point of view for game developers was a very hard job which earn very less and hard to become rich (Young thought). It's still the fact now anyway and it's harder than what I used to imagine, somehow, I knew it is reachable now and thats why I am here bloging a site namely "Game Dev Life for a Student". It's still tough, it's still a great challenge, when going after what you really wanted, it's nothing to lose.

Work as A Game Developer

Although I am Hatchlings Games's programmer, I never put myself into realy game development process so far so it's not true that I ever WORK as a game developer. Then who am I to say something about works. Well, sooner or later I am one of them ^^v (Solid teach de smileys, it's ^^ 2 eye, and 'v' is the finger 'v' shape). I guess anyone like me, who wanted to become one of the soldier in the battlefield of Game creation, will have some question. From my guessing, the most famous question in mind will something like "How much I get...am I going to survive!?" or "Do I need to work part time while making game" OR "How am I going to use my whole tons of Salary!!" (jk...).

Lazy Kuan surf around the internet, reading this and that, and finally clicked back the bookmarked Gamasutra and found an interesting post. This post title is "Are You in Demand? Hot Jobs for Big Bucks in the Game Industry" This post is about what is the average pay for USA game developers. Anyway, USA market is totally different from Malaysia or some other country but what I think is, may be there wont be the same figure but relatively same ratio in the country job market.

Something I like to highlight from the post (Since not everyone will click it and read...) is the average pay for fresh graduate or early game developers. Average game developer salary is USD 70,000 per year. Figure is about... RM 260,000 per year and RM 21,000 per month. (Thinking fly over to US and work in Blizzard? ask me to join :P ). Even I divide the figure with 10 times, I still getting RM2100 pay as fresh grads ...not bad...

Well, this is Statistic and it is US's statistic too. It not likely to make any comparison to Malaysia but I believe there are something related. Codemaster from US planted in Malaysia...wow... some other statistic for fresh graduate in game industry is :
  • Programmer US$ 52,989 - RM 196,000 - RM 16,000 per month. ( I can upgrade PC every month, Travel every half year, spend you all Chilis every weekend night)
  • Artist and Animator US$ 45,675 - RM 169,000 - RM 14,000 per month.( Lo Shyang can buy one new console per month, buy original games like buy pirated games, collect all FF thingy in one month)
  • Game Designer US$ 43,486 - RM 160,00 - RM 13,000 per month.
**note : Those figure is what in US, converting to RM just for dreaming and imagine purpose ( else someone go out there interview as game programmer and demanding RM 10,000 per month and got chase off from the office everytime...come back here and comment :"Kuan, you're big liar!")

So? Game Developers earn a lot man! Making game is the funniest job I can think for myself in my life, though it's working for someone, it's employee, it's hard, it's OT, it's crunch time, it's instant noodle job, it's sleepless, it's .... it's dream job :)

today feeling :: stop raining, I wanna play Tennis!!! Assignment is killing me off dy~