One Bad Byte

Version 1.0.7 of Port Defender is now ready for update/purchase. The update introduces hand crafted waves and a set level cap. The game play is the same as before, but future updates will include more towers, enemies and maps. We may also introduce immunities again, like certain tanks take less gun damage.

Some graphics and objects found within Port Defender, an iPhone tower defense game have been released for education purposes and can be found at 3d2toy.com. Robocamp+ Camp attendees have access to sample background image, floor tiles, towers & character textures. With these resources young developers can get a jump start on game development.

The camp focuses on XBOX 360 game development, robotics and advanced Alice. For the camp custom development tools have been provided which allow students to quickly create 2D video games that are both windows and XBOX 360 compatible.

On May 8, 2009 port defender 1.0.5, a tower defense game, was approved by Apple for sale on the AppStore. Version 1.0.5 marks a departure from previous versions, but completely re-thinking tower and enemy design.
The towers are now based upon tank turret designs, with a base, color patterns and unique designs. The functions of the towers have not been altered, but the damage and timing may have changed.

The enemies are the major change that hopefully will enable easier level creations. Enemies are divided into a few subcategories which include, ground pounders, motorized and flying. Ground pounders come in weak and strong varieties. Motorized enemies include ground pounders on vehicles with strong armor. The flying variety will be the most hated enemy, with the ability to soar over your defenses. Especially flying support, which have rocket packs will be an enormous threat, with their high health and high speed antics.

On the same day as 1.0.5 was approved we also uploaded 1.0.6 for approval. Version 1.0.6 is another major change for the game, with the addition of flying projectiles. Now every rocket, ping and nuke tower will fire a missile at its target, no more instant explosions. What's that? Nuke towers are now available for deployment. Think of nuke towers as the lighting or tesla towers in other TD games, but instead of using power they bring nuclear payloads down upon enemies.

For reference, because it looks funny, ping towers fire rocket propelled magnets that contain slowing materials in suspension. Rocket towers at level 2, 4 & 5 fire 2 rockets at a time, which can target different enemies. The nuke tower at level 5 will also fire 2 nukes at the same time.

I never though I would have to send one of these out, but just today I sent out 6 DMCA take down notices for Copyright infringement due to software theft, and one to Google to take down some search results. I've never been on this side of the equation, but now I get to have fun ruining the life of crackers and other pirates.

And on a weird note, I've read the pirate website arguments and could understand some of their complaints, but our software doesn't fit into any of their non-sense, whimsical and anti-capitalistic ideas. They claim its for the people to try before they buy, to avoid "I'm Rich" problems, but we being a friendly company offer free version of all our software, making their point invalid and kind of hurtful. Just remember they're just greedy pirates using a toy developed by someone else to one click crack and share pay for apps, but what are they going to do when the basic crack isn't good enough? We already taken steps to ensure that future versions will be a bit harder to crack, and they may seem "OK" when initially played, but they will fail to entertain when they are constantly crashing at random times to the home screen. Just remember people who steal software can't leave a review on the AppStore, and in my book those are the only reviews that count.

And for reference, since we are a greedy company, based upon the pirates perspective, we currently have Port Defender Lite and Quick Til3 available for free, both offer the same game play of the "Full" version, but without the fun surprises for crackers and pirates to find.

Lastly everyone have a nice day, I need to get some sleep, writing DMCA notices and taking down ad networks on infringing sites isn't fun at all.

Creating games for the iPhone is relatively simple, once you build the foundation, but getting to a decent starting point can be a challenge.

In my first iPhone game for sale, Til3, I pretty much hand crafted each visible object in the game on paper first and then implemented by code, which includes each individual vertex & texture coordinates. This wasn't a very fast solution, and making changes or adding new objects is more trouble than it should be.

When it comes to rendering on the iPhone there are a few concerns you have to deal with. Unlike OpenGL, the ES version has a few limitations that force you to write harder, but faster code. For example the glBegin & glEnd functions are missing, leaving you to render from vertex arrays. Coding each array can be a pain, so for my second game for release I went with a custom solution to solve the rending and creating crisis. In my solution I define each object in a definition file that is associated with a texture. This method allows me to create objects on the fly with external software like photoshop cs4 and quickly link to the results, there's still some work required to finish an object, like making a translation table for object references, but that's just an integer array and look up function.

Our Abstract Object Editor

By placing objects in a definition file I can actually speed up rendering times with a cost to the initial load time. The reason for this is when rendering I only have to switch texture references a few times, but vertex references stay the same. For example all the land is loaded by a definition file, so all the land is linked to the same texture. When rendering I bind to the first land's texture and continue to draw each land mass without having to switch arrays, unless I allow multiple floor image sets. The opposite of this solution is how Til3 renders everything. When Til3 renders it is constantly switching vertex and texture arrays, since each object is defined in a different array. In a later update I need to update Til3's rendering system, but currently the game runs fine enough with the messy rendering code.

That's all I have right now, maybe next time I'll talk about how to zoom in 2D games.

Currently in the pipe for release is Port Defender 1.0, a tower defense game and Til3 1.2, our matching game. Port Defender should be out soon, and hopefully the lite version will hit around the same time. The lite version is almost the same as the full, except that weapons cannot be upgraded, only 5 health points, no easy mode and it only has 10 levels of game play. By playing the lite version you should get a good understanding of the full edition.

Til3 1.2 is more of a patch then update, it addresses two main points. The first point is menu navigation, and in the new version moving around has been simplified, but the old way to move is still present for advanced users. The other part of the update is more tile sets to play with, one based upon Port defender and the second is a mix of other older tile sets.

Please check out these updates later when they become available in the App Store, or if you haven't made any purchases then please checkout "Quick Til3" and "Port Defender Lite" and see if you like them, thanks.

Til3 version 1.1 has been released. The changes include, faster load times, updated menu graphics and new options. The price has also been lowered to $0.99, so give it a try. I have a video of the new version and you can find it here.

Another iPhone application, Tip-O-Matic by M-Gate Labs has become available on the iTunes store. The application is a simple Tip calculator that doesn't try to show off and instead focuses on working well and quick.

I was listening to Glen beck earlier this week on my way to school and though to make some shirts to go with his talk on the "blue eagle". It took a while to find a suitable source logo and convert it by hand to a vector graphic.

It may have taken a while, but Til3 is ready for sale. For those that don't know, or haven't watched the YouTube videos, Til3 is a simple matching game for the iPhone. For more information about Til3, check out the Wiki. Also remember I'm still working on Where2Drop.

Also the first 5 people to comment will get a free iTunes code for Til3.