Dev Links: Distant Shores

“What makes a good opening?

Today’s Developer Linksdiscuss saving and loading, RPG openings, a sound and music engine, and how to program a computer inside Minecraft.

RPG Openings – The Good & The Ugly(Zeboyd Games)
“What makes a good opening? In my opinion, a good opening does the following…”

Saving And Loading(Cliffski.com)
“How I envy developers working on arcade games, or anything that has a very simple game ‘state’ that can be easily saved and loaded with no grief. For the game I am currently working on (announcement later this month), it’s a bit of a pain, because the actual game ‘state’ is horrendously involved, and every single byte of it has to be loaded and saved perfectly. The problem is mainly due to my tendency to code systems that have a huge number of objects that all have pointers to each other, in complex and arcane ways.”

Island Snapshot(The Witness)
“Current puzzle count: 505.”

Audiality 2 1.9.0 – Refactored, renamed, rearmed!(Olofson Arcade)
“Audiality 2 (previously released as ChipSound) is used for sound effects and music in the game Kobo II. The name originates from an old structured audio and sampleplayer engine, originally developed as part of the XKobo port Kobo Deluxe. The old engine is no longer maintained, so the new one, which has similar goals but much greater potential, is now inheriting the name.”

Amnesia Fortnight: How Double Fine Embraces The Future(Gamasutra)
“Over two years ago, while his studio was still under contract with EA finishing up Brütal Legend, Double Fine head Tim Schafer decided to try something entirely new. Dubbed the Amnesia Fortnight, this prototyping festival would see the studio breaking up into several teams and coming up with a variety of smaller game concepts. These prototypes then became games, got signed and changed the studio’s destiny.”

Good Morning Gato # 106 – And A Happy New Year(Ska Studios)
“2012 was a busy, busy year for Ska Studios. Here’s a recap of some of this year’s bigger moments…”

2013 The Year of Challenges(Computer Games)
“Before making this post I’ve read what I wrote last year, calling 2012 the “year of relax”: http://www.winterwolves.net/blog/2012/01/2012-time-to-relax/Well, definitely it wasn’t a relaxing year, even if I released only 3 games (I consider The Castle Of N’Mar, Loren’s expansion, as a separate game because of its size!).”

Mavis Minecraft Teaches Coding – Part 1(Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
“Actually this isn’t written by someone called Mavis, but instead by RPS chum and former Wired staffer Duncan Geere, who you may remember from his Sim City 2000 retrospective. In this first of four parts, he takes you through the ropes of basic coding via the modern marvel that is Minecraft. Everything’s done in game, and it all begins by punching a tree. Take it away, Duncan.”