Knoxville Game Design

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 →

Comparison of file types for holding image data for textures and sprites in games.  File types include BMP, GIF, PNG, JPEG, SVG, TIFF, TGA, PCX, HEIC, and WebP.  Properties include transparency, compression, lossy vs lossless, and file size.  Demonstration of how to programmatically decode and encode PNG files.  Compatibility of image files with four game … Continue reading Image File Formats – Knox Game Design, April 2021 →

Overview of comparison of data types, sorting algorithms, and run times. Demonstration of sorting in Unity with C#, GameMaker with GML, Godot with GDScript, Unreal Engine with C++, and Pico-8 with Lua. For each game development environment, examples are shown for sorting integers, character strings (words), and a custom object type. Example code – https://github.com/levidsmith/SortingDemos … Continue reading Sorting – Knox Game Design, March 2021 →

How to generate mazes using Prim’s and Kruskal’s algorithm. Example implementations in Unity with C#.  Methods for solving mazes.  Demonstration of maze generators available on the web. Demo project in Unity and C# – https://github.com/levidsmith/MazeDemo New and Updated Games by Knox Developers Untitled game by Matthew BlazorRogueLike by Mythik Enfield by LocksmithArmy and Kendra Gomen-nasai … Continue reading Mazes – Knox Game Design, February 2021 →

Demonstration of how to create a simple humanoid armature in Blender to be used in a game development environment.  Explanation of how to assign a mesh to an armature and weight painting.  How to create simple walking and standing animation by adding key frames.  The model and animation are exported into FBX format and imported … Continue reading Animation in Blender – Knox Game Design, January 2021 →

Overview of the Allegro game programming library.  Compiling a legacy Allegro game with DJGPP through DOSBox.  Installing and building a game with Allegro 5 in Visual Studio.  How to use event and polling based methods for handling keyboard and gamepad input. Explanation of how to create a “Hello World”, Number Guessing game, and simple space … Continue reading Allegro – Knox Game Design, December 2020 →

Overview of building a Raspberry Pi arcade system.  First build was a Raspberry Pi (1) Model B and the second build was a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.  Explanation of what components and tools are needed.  Installation the RetroPie operating system and configuration of Retrogame software to convert joystick movement and button presses into simulation … Continue reading Raspberry Pi Arcade – Knox Game Design, November 2020 →

A recap of the Fall ’20 game jam plus a post mortem. Also what others on the Knox Game Design Discord have been developing. If you are interested in attending a Knox Game Design meeting either virtually or in-person, let us know! Links and Notes Game jam keynotes – https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/$212263/welcome-to-ludum-dare-47-ps-we-start-early Circuitus Infinitus entry – https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/circuitus-infinitus … Continue reading Fall ’20 Game Jam Recap – Knox Game Design, October 2020 →

An overview of creating a game with MonoGame.  Installation of MonoGame development environment using Visual Studio.  Handling input devices such as keyboard, gamepad, and mouse. How to load assets such as sound effects, music, fonts, and sprite images.  Examples of simple number guessing game and space shooter in MonoGame and C#.  How to convert an … Continue reading MonoGame – Knox Game Design, September 2020 →

An overview of BBS (Bulletin Board System) games from the 1990s.  How to connect to a telnet BBS to play DOOR games.  Creating ANSI graphics with ACiD draw in DOSBox.  VT100 color codes explained.  A simple telnet server created in Ruby, which displays system time, counts to ten, displays an ANSI file, and has a … Continue reading BBS Games, VT100, and ANSI Graphics – Knox Game Design August 2020 →

An overview of color for game developers.  How various colors are made on the computer using RGB and HSV formats.  The color spectrum and the ROY G BIV order for colors.  Where visible color exists on the electromagnetic wavelength scale.  Color displays on CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) and LED (Light Emitting Diode) devices.  Converting between … Continue reading Color – Knox Game Design, July 2020 →

This month we learn how to create games in Python using the Pygame library. 1:30 – News 6:13 – Showoff: Unity Helper and new leaderboard features 11:47 – Pygame (feature presentation) Hosts Jacob ldjam.com/users/jacobturn/games gamejolt.com/@Big_Ol_Tom Jeffry http://www.thingiverse.com/insane66 Levi D. Smith levidsmith.com @GaTechGrad gatechgrad.itch.io Links and Notes Pygame examples (Number Guess, Shooter, Koi-Koi) – https://github.com/levidsmith/PythonProjects Python … Continue reading Pygame – Knox Game Design, June 2020 →

This month we show off our games created for Spring ’20. Levi D. Smith also talks about leaderboard security. 0:58 – News – BitBucket discontinues Mercurial, migration to GitHub 9:43 – Raising Cerberus by James 15:54 – Machina by Jacob 23:50 – Potted Plant Simulator by Dylan 46:02 – Chicken Little by Levi 52:33 – … Continue reading Spring ’20 Game Jam Entries and Leaderboard Security – Knox Game Design, May 2020 →