[Preview] The Gauntlet – Minecraft Skill Challenge
This is an older Minecraft project of mine from over a year or so ago. Figured it was about time to post some more info about it. Enjoy the video!
The Gauntlet is basically a series of tasks which two players can perform in parallel (spectators can watch from above as well). The idea is that it never ends, you can just continually add to it as your challengers become successful. Each challenge gets more difficult as the race progresses. The last player ‘standing’ wins. What makes this a little different from other Gauntlet’s we’ve seen is that each combatant has a mirrored track and can occasionally see one another without interference while spectators can watch the action from above.
Once the 1.5 Minecraft update comes out, I’ll look at making sure it’s compatible and adding some Command Blocks to make it a little cleaner before posting. Probably expect some more videos in the meantime before a posting of the server files in April.
Road Construction Down
The Game Crafter recently updated their site and we haven’t updated to their new template yet. Thus, Road Construction was automatically unpublished.
Have no fear though! A new edition of Road Construction with an improved box will be on it’s way. Look for it in late April along with more info about our next ‘Board Game’ project. You’ll know a bit about it already if you follow our Twitter feed.
Open Source WPF Chess Example Coming Soon
I worked on this Chess program for another project. I had started by looking at numerous available chess programs written in C# and using WPF, but alas did not find anything I felt was up to par as a basis for what I needed. They either made the chess/UI logic really complicated or had it tightly integrated or didn’t use WPF strengths.
So, I put this project together to use proper WPF data separation techniques through data binding and templates as well as using a MEF back-end to give me some flexibility with the piece creation (my project used this a bit more intensively, but I wanted to simplify the example that I release for demonstration). It just cuts to the chase.
I’m just adding some more comments and cleaning up the code a bit and hope to have it posted by the end of the month.
[Preview] Dead Wool – Minecraft Zombie Apocalypse
Welcome to Dead Wool!
Set in a city ravaged by a zombie outbreak, the player must survive as they trek though the infested streets and reach the only escape – a helicopter at the top of a skyscraper across the city!
Many hours were put into building the city from the ground up and even wiring triggers for in-game-events over the course of 4-5 weeks. Players are given the option of exploring the city or fast tracking it through to the escape route. Players decide at their own pace when they want to complete the level. Exploring the city yields interesting side-quests that supplement the main story and many item-drops will give the player an advantage against the undead citizens.
This project was completed by four of us for a night class in game design. It was completed by myself (Michael A. Hawker), Melissa Henry, Howard Smith, and he who shall remain nameless…
Hit the jump for more project details and a breakdown of responsibilities of each team member. As well as additional photos.
Reach for the Stars: Educating the Next Generation Using Games
Had a great weekend at PAX and PAXDev! As you may know, at PAXDev we gave a talk on our space simulation project given after the Advanced Placement Computer Science exam this year at Issaquah High School. It was requested that we post the slides to our talk. So without further ado…
WPF DataGrid Dilemma: Add Column to Bound DataTable
Well after many hours of being stumped and perusing the web; I finally have a solution to my dilemma surrounding the WPF DataGrid.
It seemed like a simple problem: Bind a DataGrid to a DataTable and have it update all it’s contents both ways. Getting the initial content worked like a charm, but then trying to add a new column to add new data wasn’t working at all. It was a nightmare and I any example I found just stopped at loading initial data in.
It turns out that while the DataTable behind is happy to update itself and other things bound to it will update their collections, even with AutoGenerateColumns set to true, the DataGrid just happily ignores the new column and doesn’t display a thing.
The solution I finally came upon requires that you create your own column on the DataGrid to bind back to the column added in the DataTable.
Mikeware backs OUYA Console
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Mikeware backs the OUYA game console as an Elite Developer. Look for original Mikeware games on the console in March 2013! |
Ships in Space
Over the course of the past couple of months, I helped out at my local high school and my fellow teaching friend in a project for his AP Computer Science class. We had students create autonomous robots which had to navigate a space simulation and collect Baubles while avoiding obstacles. It’s important to note that students wrote the logic for the ships and were completely hands-off for the duration of the tournament.
The video clip shows a round from our final tournament. The server was written using Python and PyGame.
Impossible Figures
Well, it’s been a while since posting any news. I’ll have an entry about that later.
Good news is amongst teaching and taking classes, some things get done. Of course it helps when part of that is because it’s a project for class. As in this case, the Impossible Figure Creator was born.
It’s the final project in my Visual Communication class which wraps up my graduate certificate in User Centered Design.
Try it out, create a masterpiece and save it for the world to see.
Road Construction!
Another game emerges. Appropriately for a continually under construction site, there’s a game about construction. This was an entry for the Game Crafter’s Vehicle contest. I’m happy to announce that it’s finally the first board game published by Mikeware with high quality printing thanks to The Game Crafter.
I’ll have to write a post about the state of development later and what’s happening with Time Master. However, Road Construction is a great fun random game about racing your fellow opponents in hybrid solar electric/gas cars! First to the finish wins if you can get past the construction.
Complete with a passing mechanic too. Manage your energy wisely as you manage your team of cars.
questions at mikeware dot com
