Christmas Charity Sale

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My son is making Mario badge for Christmas charity sale using Space Qube, good job ^_^

Surface RT Unboxing

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之前為了之後的Windows 8改版，只好忍痛訂了一台Surface RT做為ARM based Windows 8測試之用。我是10/19 左右在美國網站訂購的，所以無法第一批拿到。上禮拜四美國的朋友收到後就用US Post Express幫我寄出，今天早上就收到了，效率還不錯。

因為開發App的需要，iPad 2, iPad 3, Android(Sony Tablet S)平板我都有，相比起來，這次Surface RT的質感相當不錯，組裝也十分紮實，相較起來，Sony Tablet S 就整個被比下去了。我認為Surface RT的整體質感很接近iPad了，只是走不同的風格。變壓器的設計也很有自己的風格，說起來台灣的硬體廠商做了這麼久的硬體，卻很少有硬體設計比的上一個做軟體的微軟，台灣這些廠商真的應該好好檢討一下了。

照片是用Tablet S 拍的，效果不好請大家多多見諒。







包裝超簡單，就只有平板跟變壓器


這個虛擬鍵盤我覺得比iPad上的好





桌面設定會跟其他共用帳號的Win8電腦同步

因為早在preview版我就已經安裝了Windows 8，所以對整個系統已經很熟悉了，也就沒有甚麼驚奇或是驚喜之處了。硬體方面，試了micro SD 32 GB跟外接一些USB HDD都維持Windows優良傳統，沒有任何相容性問題。整個來說就是方便，不會像用iPad或是Android一樣無法直接存取網路上其他電腦的檔案。App不多，大部分也看起來很業餘，不過以Windows程式開發的容易度來說，海量的App是遲早的事，但是store的排序分類可能需要改進一下了。 

拿起來重量感覺類似iPad3，拿久了應該會蠻痠的。早上才拿到還沒辦法測試使用時間，等晚一點再試試。這台其實買來是為了開發遊戲用的，不過應該會變成取代iPad3的主力tablet。

RT版本桌面程式有限制，所以很多人卻步了，但是我覺得以這樣的組裝品質，Surface Pro會很令人期待，難怪國內雙A要嚴陣以待了。 可惜我現在已經變成無收入的indie game developer，不然還真想再買台Pro　:)

Angry Birds : Obi-Wan

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My son asked me to make an angry birds Obi-Wan voxel model after he played Angry Birds Star Wars game. That's the best I can do since I am a programmer not artist.....

But at least he gave me 5 stars rating. :D

My Voxel Toys

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In-game Voxel Model Editor Demo

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Here comes the video of the in-game voxel model editor, check it out!

This demo video shows how to create a voxel model in game and browse it in model browser. We don't have the music yet so I borrowed the music from Megaman 2 :)

The editor UI layout in this video is for iPad. We actually designed a different UI layout for iPhone/iPod to better fit the smaller screen.

Next time, I will show you the gameplay video. But since the gameplay is still under development, it may take a little longer until I fixed some gameplay issues first.

Boost power-up

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How can I forget the screenshot of my favorite boost power-up?  :)

Space Qube Updates

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Here comes more in-developing screenshots and video of the game! 

The main menu video.

The game is composed of two parts, game and workshop. 

The game part
The game part is simple, the player controls the space ship, flying toilet(?) or anything the player created to shoot as many aliens as he can to get highest score. Of course there are some power-ups the player can use to increase the weapon power, speed, etc. There are also couple of bosses are waiting for the player, beat them to get higher score and some rewards. 

The workshop part
The workshop part contains a voxel model editor and browser. You can use browser to browse the voxel models uploaded by other players. You can also download and rate the uploaded voxel models then modify them or use them to play game. For creation part, you can create 16x16 or 32x32 size model in iPad but only 16x16 size model on iPhone/iPod since the screen size. The way you create voxel model is actually editing layers, and those layers will be composed. There are couple of tools you can use in model editor, I will upload a video later to show you how to use it to create a voxel model. After creating the voxel model, you can share them via the Internet, email or facebook. There will be an official website which list all uploaded voxel models and anyone with browser can view the uploaded voxel model from PC or iPad/iPhone. 

This game will be free on iTunes store soon. Then we will port it to Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and maybe Android. We are in crunch mode right now but I will try to post more video about the editor and gameplay soon. As usual, any suggestions, comments and questions are welcome. We still have time to adopt your opinions before submitting the build :)

Here Comes Our Hero

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It's time for our hero showing up. He is the main character in Space Qube and will guide you through the game. If you need to buy any good item in Space Qube, he is the one you should look for :)
該是我們的英雄現身的時候了。他是Space Qube裡的主要角色，他會在遊戲中不時的出現並且帶領你完成遊戲。當你在遊戲中需要購買任何好用的道具時，找他就對了 :)

Recently, I and my son are getting a lot of fun from iron plastic beads. So I made a physical hero from the voxel data and he looks as cool as the virtual one.

最近我和我兒子都迷上了熨燙豆，所以我就用熨燙豆實體化了我們的英雄。實體化的英雄看起來跟遊戲中的英雄一樣酷呢。

I actually made a physical Space Qube  logo as well, so let's take a picture together for the ending :) 

其實我還實體化的遊戲logo，所以就來張大合照做為結束吧:)

Space Qube - My Upcoming Game

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As I said in my last post, I will reveal more information about my upcoming game on this blog. And today is the day, I am going to debut my upcoming game on this blog. I like this game very much and hopefully you will also like it :)

前一篇post說到我將會公佈我即將完成遊戲的訊息，很快的那一天就到了，今天是我第一天在網路上公開這個遊戲的訊息。我自己很喜灣這個遊戲，也希望大家會喜歡 :)


Below is the voxel model of the game logo, you can use mouse to rotate it. If you take a closer look at it, you will find it actually contains AO shading.

下面這個voxel模型就是遊戲的Logo，大家可以用滑鼠來操做看看。仔細看的話，你應該可以發現我有做AO的計算喔。

Do you find any clue from my last posted photo? Yes, Space Qube is a retro style shooting game which is based on voxel rendering. In this game, every character, power-up and even UI are all made by voxels. The best part is that the game includes an in-game model editor which allows the player to create their own model then share them via the Internet, Facebook and email. Using voxel to create model is like playing Lego brick, so the player can actually use voxels with different color to create anything they can image. The handmade Angry Bird toy on my previous post is actually created from the in-game editor :)

不知道大家有從之前照片中猜到了嗎？Space Qube是一款以voxel為基礎的復古射擊遊戲，遊戲中所有角色，道具甚至UI都是由voxel構成的喔。而遊戲中更內建了一個角色編輯器，可以讓玩家使用voxel來自由創作自己的角色，還可以透過網際網路，臉書或是電子郵件來分享自己創作的角色。使用voxel來建立模型就好像在玩積木一樣，所以玩家可以使用不同顏色的voxel來堆出任何想像得到的東西，之前照片中的Angry Bird玩具就是用遊戲中的編輯器做出來的喔 :)

This game is actually from a small game I made for my son. Because I was living in Canada alone for a long time and my son and wife were living in Taiwan. I usually talked with my son via Skype every morning before he went to the school. My son loves playing Lego brick but we can't play the bricks together since the geographic reason. The idea of using voxel rendering came up at that time so I wrote a small voxel editor on iPod. Therefore I and my son can play the bricks together via Skype. And I can also send him the model I made for him via the Internet.

其實這個遊戲本來是做給我兒子玩的一個小遊戲。因為之前有很長的一段時間，我都是一個人住在加拿大的，而我兒子跟老婆則住在台灣。每天早上我兒子上學前，我都會用Skype跟他視訊。我兒子很喜歡玩樂高積木，但我卻無法陪他一起玩，於是我就想到了使用voxel來做個小遊戲，這樣我們就能透過Skype一起玩積木了，而我幫他做的積木模型，也就可以透過網際網路傳給他玩了。

Louis is the artist of this game. We were talking about making a game together several times before but can never coordinate a time for it. This time, since I and Louis have quit our full-time job to focus on indie game developing, we finally have the chance to work together on our first game! And my artist friend Bic also gave me a lot of help at the beginning so I can finished the prototype.

這個遊戲的美術是由Louis來負責的，我們之前好幾次的想要合作都因為時間上無法配合而沒辦法付諸行動，這一次Louis和我都辭掉工作專心來做indie game後，終於可以合作出第一款遊戲了！而之前美術朋友 Bic也幫了我不少忙才能順利把 prototype產出。

So that's it for today,  I will introduce you more features of this game in the future on this blog and thanks for your watching so far :D

今天就暫時先介紹到此，之後會在這再慢慢介紹更多遊戲的訊息跟技術給大家，感謝觀看 :D

Oh, there is one more thing. I created a new Twitter account for this game so you can follow it if you want to know the latest news about my game.
我最近為了這個遊戲建了一個新的Twitter帳號，之後會在上面隨時公佈一些開發消息喔。

Handmade angry birds toy & some hints about my upcoming game

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Handmade angry birds toy for my son but there are some hidden hints about my upcoming game on it :)

幫兒子做的手工憤怒鳥玩具，不過這裡面隱含了我即將完成的遊戲的一些線索喔 :)

I will reveal more information about my upcoming game in a couple days and also hold an open beta registration on this blog in the near future, so keep tuned.
過幾天我就會開始陸續公佈一些遊戲的訊息了，之後應該還會在這裡開放Open Beta版本的註冊，Keep tuned.

I Am The Indie Game Developer Now!

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在AMD工作了將近七年後，今天要跟AMD說再見了。一個月前提出辭呈後，今天是我在AMD的最後一天了。這個blog正好是從我第一天來到加拿大開始的，中間斷斷續續的記錄了我在加拿大這七年的生活片段，今天上班時特別瀏覽了一下blog，勾起了不少回憶，尤其懷念之前頻繁的亞洲出差，當時覺得好累，現在反到成為美好的記憶。 

下午交出了手機跟筆電還有badge之後，以後就不能再跑到公司印文件了，也沒有免費的手機跟3G了，更沒有免費電動可以打了:(。七年來每天工作的地方突然不用再去了，感覺還蠻不適應的。不過不論如何，總算走到了這一步，接下來終於要開始做我想了很久一直想要做的事-做自己想要做的遊戲!

是的，我就要成為一位獨立遊戲開發者了。至於為何想成為一位獨立遊戲開發者，我並沒有像一些獨立遊戲開發者一樣有很強烈的信念想要藉由遊戲來表達，對我而言，成為獨立遊戲開發者只是想快樂的開發遊戲而已。隨著年紀的增長，我慢慢理解到生命不但很短而且很渺小。年輕時總希望能做些轟轟烈烈的事，所以試著不斷挑戰console game跟引擎開發，但現在的我心境大為不同了。說起來也許很消極，但我慢慢覺得世上沒有任何人是不可被取代的，即使沒有了愛因斯坦還是會有人發現相對論的。因為這樣的想法，所以現在的我只想快樂的做自己想做的事，至於目標是渺小還是偉大，已經完全不重要了。即使是開發一個只賣0.99的小遊戲，只要做的開心，又能帶給玩家一段快樂的時光，也強過參與一個百人製作團隊的AAA大作。事實上跟兩三個志同道合的朋友一起開發遊戲，遠比在一個百人團隊中開發遊戲快樂多了。

其實從我開始工作以來，就一直斷斷續續在下班後做自己的遊戲，只是那時候還沒有獨立遊戲開發這個名詞。而那時的環境也很難讓 非主流的遊戲存活下來，直到Apple掀起了app的浪潮。雖然我個人不是很喜歡Steve Jobs的行事風格，但是多虧了Apple，現在任何非主流的遊戲只要方向正確，都能抓住足夠數量的玩家。我一直以來就喜歡看些非主流慢畫，也喜歡開發非主流遊戲，所以現在終於可以實現我的一些想法而不會餓肚子了 :)

這條路不知道我能走多久，不過我會盡力走下去的，而這個blog從今天起也會變成開始記錄我成為一位獨立遊戲開發者的生活點滴，只要時間允許的話，我會盡量把一些開發過程的大小事post上來的。Stay tuned!

Standing Coding?

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最近趁著Indie Game : The Movie打對折的時候下載的這部紀錄片, 看完之後我印象最深刻的居然是Braid的Jonathan Blow是站著coding!? 而且鍵盤擺的方式還很特殊. 看完之後我對這事一直念念不忘, 所以就上網google了 一下, 才發現原來已經有不少人這樣做了, 說是對健康有幫助, 想想整天座著打電腦確實是件蠻不健康的事. 所以二話不說, 立刻來身體立行一下, 於是先弄了個克難的standing coding環境, 先來試驗一下, 如果真的效果很好的話, 回台灣後就要把工作室弄成適合standing coding 的布置. 話說現在這篇文章就是站著打的, 感覺很奇妙 :)


Those with a desk job, please stand up
Sitting Linked to Dying Early

Windows Phone 8

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微軟今天公布了 Windows Phone 8, 果然如預期的一樣加入了native app的支援, 而且API會跟Win RT非常類似, 意思就是Windows 8 Metro App的開發者可以很容易的移植app到Windows phone 8上面了.  新的Windows Phone 8 SDK在今年夏天就會推出.

LynxEngine已經做了最基本的Windows 8移植 , 一直在等待微軟宣布新的Windows Phone 8之後就要移植上去, 看來再等兩個月就可以了.  正在開發中的遊戲iOS版一上架後, 我應該就會著手Windows 8及WP 8的移植了. 不過現在最大的問題不是移植, 而是如何忍住不要去碰移植的事而專心先開發遊戲啊! 將引擎移植到不同硬體上對我來說有著無法抗拒的魔力.....接下來真的要忍一下了, 只能利用休息時間來玩一下移植的遊戲了.

前幾天微軟宣布的surface雖然展示時的當機蠻糗的, 不過我基本上覺得還不錯, 當然為了移植應該或許也會買一台來玩玩. 基本上我對微軟的Win8及WP8目前是持正面的看法, 覺得應該會衝擊到Android的市場, 尤其是大廠的tablet, 山寨版的應該還是有低價優勢, 但也許他們會轉做山寨 Win8也不一定, 所以看來Android在tablet這塊上面很危險了.如果微軟能持續加強app的數量及品質, 應該是有機會跟iPad一較高下 .

Windows Phone 8相關的訊息可以看這裡.

Some Updates....

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又有好一陣子沒有更新blog了, 主要是因為這一陣子實在太忙了(每次藉口都一樣....). 因為最近為了之後搬家的事得開始準備打包了, 再加上房子的整修, 每個周末都忙得不可開交. 引擎的開發其實已經有一陣子沒有繼續了, 因為目前主要時間都放在兩個製作中的小遊戲上面.

這兩個製作中的遊戲當然是使用LynxEngin來開發的, 目前主要的target平台是iPhone/iPad, 但是將來應該有機會移植到多個平台上像是Android, Windows 8等. 最近剛裝了Windows 8的RC版, 比前一個版本又穩定了許多, 所以也將LynxEngine初步的移植上去了. 不過由於白天還要上班, 晚上大部分時間都要整理家裡, 所以遊戲的進度走走停停......, 好在再過一陣子就能全職的開發自己的遊戲了, 只是在這之前, 睡眠不足的日子可能還要再持續一陣子.

由於現在的移動平台遊戲幾乎都要與網路有所互動, 所以這一陣子也花了不少時間在以往不熟悉的網路programming上面. 這次為了完成一些需要的網路功能, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, HTML5, WebGL跟Flash每一樣都得想辦法搞定. 以前從來沒想過自製遊戲會需要用到這些東西,  但現在這些東西似乎都變成必備技能了, 呵. 

目前遊戲還在開發階段所以無法透露太多訊息, 等遊戲到了較接近完的階段時, 我一定會在這裡跟大家分享製作的過程及技術的, 請大家拭目以待囉 :)

A Simple WebGL Test

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My Last GDC Presentation at GDC 2012

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今年GDC應該是我最後一次的GDC演講了, 至少是最後一次以AMD的身分演講了, 講的是去年下半年幫UE3所做的一些最佳化, 有興趣的人可以來聽聽.

http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/13473274

簡介

Following the release of DirectX 11 features for Unreal Engine 3 (UE3) last year, AMD has done a number of code submissions to further enhance graphics features in UE3. This presentation will cover each code submission in detail: tessellation, multi-monitor support, vertex shader-based Bokeh Depth of Field (DOF) and post-processing Anti-Aliasing.

Tessellation: Describes the new Phong tessellation mode that was added into UE3 as well as optimization options that were imported into the material editor. How to implement tessellation optimizations in the material editor without touching the shader code will also be covered.

Multi-monitor Support: The ever-improving affordability of LCD monitors combined with the level of performance found in recent GPUS are enabling more and more gamers to take full advantage of the PC Gaming experience by upgrading their system to a multi-monitor gaming setup like AMD Eyefinity. This presentation will describe how UE3 licensees can easily add multi-monitor support in their titles with minimal code changes. Considerations regarding Frustum updates and the scaling of on-screen elements such as HUD and menus will also be covered.

Vertex Shader Based Bokeh DOF: Last year, UE3 released a stunning DirectX 11 feature: Bokeh DOF. This feature makes use of the geometry shader to render a massive number of point sprites. Unfortunately the use of the Geometry Shader is subject to hardware limitations and can suffer from performance considerations that can impact the efficiency of this technique. This topic covers how the same effect was implemented using vertex shader and was made to work on both DX9 and DX11.

Post-processing AA: This topic will cover the new UE3 post-processing Fullscreen Anti-Aliasing features: FXAA and MLAA. We will focus on how to setup MLAA and what the differences are between MLAA and FXAA.

Windows Phone 8 will Support Native Code

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傳聞WP8將會支援Native Code的App了, 看來很快又有新玩具可以玩囉 :) . 說不定LynxEngine的WP8移植還會比Android移植更早完成.