One of the most popular systems at this time is Subversion (SVN), and if you are using Windows the Tortoise SVN client will most likely be your svn client of choice.

However a little know feature is the extended context menu for tortoise. Most evident if you need to remove a file from revision control but keep the file locally on your computer. Normally if you use svn delete the file will be marked for deletion, and upon next commit the file will be removed from the reposiroty AND your local machine.

Luckily there is a quick little trick to simply remove it from revision control but still keep your local copy. If you press and hold shift while right clicking the file(s)/directory(s) a new command under the TortoiseSVN menu is available called “Delete (Keep local)”.

This marks your selection to be removed from the repository upon next commit, but retains your local copy. This is especially usefull for files that should not have been added in the first place, but where you still need a copy of the file locally e.g. for building a project.

To sum up you can extend the capabilities of TortoiseSVN using your shift button! Great little tip!

Extended menu

source:
http://tortoisesvn.net/node/347

I quickly included a small scoring system that basically updates the score throughout the game, and after the player dies it keeps the score displayed until the next game starts.

For now the graphics are the default improved graphics from the course, as I want to focus on my development, coding, skills rather than spend time making graphics for now.

But I WILL be making Cannon3 with more features. I just need to learn more about XNA to actually do so. Had some trouble getting the text displayed properly and still need to figure out a way to display it on the right side without using “magic numbers” as the solution is right now.

without further delay ..I present … Cannon 3 !

Screenshots:

Version History:

• 1.1 – Game with scoring system
• 1.0 – Initial game

Downloads:

Canon 3 version 1.2

Requirements:

Microsoft XNA Framework Redistributable 1.0 Refresh

A few “bugs” compared to Cannon1 is that the window can be resized and maximized for now. I wont bother fixing this problem right away, as it is quite trivial to fix and would only waste time.

The scoring visual is intended to stay on screen after the game ends, to make the score visible from the previous game. It is quick and crude, but it works

Version History:

• 1.1 – Game with scoring system
• 1.0 – Initial game

Downloads:

Cannon 2 version 1.1

It has been fun to create the game, and now onwards to create Cannon 2 and Cannon 3.

Version History:

1.2 – Window title is now held in an easily changeable Variable for easy version tracking.

1.1 – Small player score feature implemented

1.0 – Initial game

Screenshots:

Downloads:

Cannon1 – Version 1.2

Cannon1 – Version 1.1

Cannon1 – Version 1.0

The fine folks, educators and all round good guys over at 3D Buzz created an amazing series of C# and XNA programming video tutorials. As part of the “hello world” application an entire game engine for a simple Text Adventure game is created, and lovingly called The Hyperion Project.

However during the course only the game engine itself is coded, thus lacking any overall game to put out.  So i decided to move on with the programming and create my own text adventure game as a side project. Time however is a bit short, so i wanted to put out a call for help for any interested parties out there with a good idea.

Details

What happens if you are interested is that you will be writing the story and designing the level using the accompanying design specifications. I will then implement the story, game rules and level into the game engine itself and provide the compiled game. The reason being that i am not sharing the source code. Not because i don’t want to share (i will develop primarily open source myself), but out of respect for people learning from the tutorials themselves. People will not learn anything if they can find the entire source code available and just mess about it. However if you are a student of the XNA Xtreme 101 class you should have the engine yourself and thus be able to collaborate on the game more easily

Design instructions

   1: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

   2: // Create the XXXXXX room

   3: room = new Room();

   4:

   5: //Assign this room to location (1,0)

   6: rooms[1, 0] = room;

   7:

   8: // Setup the room

   9: room.Title = "Blue Room";

  10: room.Description = "You have entered the Blue Room";

  11: // Add available open exits here

  12: room.AddExit(Direction.West);

  13: room.AddExit(Direction.South);

  14:

  15: // ITEMS

  16:

  17: //Create a heavy 6kg anvil

  18: item = new Item();

  19:

  20: //setup the item

  21: item.Title = "Anvil";

  22: item.PickupText = "You struggle to pickup the anvil, and dump it into your BIG pockets";

  23: item.Weight = 6;

  24:

  25: //add item to current room

  26: room.Items.Add(item);

  27:

  28: //Create the green ball

  29: item = new Item();

  30:

  31: //setup the item

  32: item.Title = "Green Ball";

  33: item.PickupText = "You just picked up the Green Ball";

  34:

  35: //add item to current room

  36: room.Items.Add(item);

  37:

  38: //Create the Key

  39: item = new Item();

  40:

  41: //setup the item

  42: item.Title = "Key";

  43: item.PickupText = "You just picked up the Key that unlocks a door";

  44:

  45: //add item to current room

  46: room.Items.Add(item);

The above is basically how to create room that make up a level in Hyperion. Each room is laid out in a grid starting in the upper left hand corner with coordinates (0,0).

Each room can contain a number of items, a description, exits (north, south, east, west).

After creating the rooms a set of game rules is needed. Examples can be written in plain text e.g “when blue ball is dropped in blue room XXXX happens”.

A starting room is also needed as well as what causes the player to win/loose the game.

Finally everything should be send to me in a plain .txt file and I will compile the game and publish it. Of course you should include any credit you want noted in the game.

PS: I am posting this here because at the moment i don’t have a lot of time to make up the contents of the text adventure itself. I wish to continue to get further with the XNA Course since graphics programming is more to my liking right now. But i still wanted to give people to option to get into this easily Plus then we could develop the game further later on :p

Whats currently going on?

Well I’m finished with the current round of exams at the University. Didn’t go quite as expected.. but nevertheless I’m finished. So whats going on now ? Well i re-started my programming in XNA. Of course im currently studying hard for once, and really keeping up in all my classes.

So aside from XNA programming and studying i have been working on getting my laptop really really souped up. Been scripting to do my trivial tasks, and also help my bored everyday a little. Getting things pretty nice on the Ubuntu box if only i could get the remaining few applications i want working. Also im serious about my workout right now, and though it may sound cliche I’m eating right, and working hard and its showing!

Programming, painting and magic!

So thats programming, working out and studying. What else ? Oh yeah this week I’m beginning to paint/draw again to help some friends making graphics for games. Also tonight i have my first meeting with the local magicians club Cant wait. Been exited about my magic again ever since i met a famous comedian/magician a few weeks back

So whats in the future of the blog. Well more pictures are comming. I’m aiming for a weekly update with images, good AND bad alike. They may vary greatly in size, so no promises yet. Video recordings will wait until i have a good work flow in Painter again.
Also I’m going to be making a lot more tutorials/articles on Linux and Ubuntu from now on. Have been making many changes on my laptop and have tons of tips and tutorials that might, or might not help you. But i write them mostly for myself, so use if you like

Old posts gone missing

had two drafts lying around that i wanted to post. But upon  further inspection only one of them were worth posting for now.

It is about an extremely motivating lecture a professor gave at Carnegie Mellon university. Its really worth the watch for everybody in all walks of life. Watch it and be inspired!

Inspirational lecture – old post:

Direct link to streaming video

Digg article

More from swoop later. It has also been medically proven that swoop is part of a nutritional orgasm for hot women! :p