So there you are – coding up a new particle system for your game. For some reason, the particles in the new system are always black, despite your best efforts. Perhaps you’re misinterpreting the parameters to part_type_color_rgb() in that they’re not 0-1 inclusive but 0-255 inclusive. Using your pro-level Google-foo, you find yourself at a […]
Category Archives: coding
My Favorite Paid Subscription Tools
Running Zimventures there are several tools which I used to manage and run the business. Below is a collection of the websites and tools which I use that are valuable enough to actually pay for. Some of the sites and tools offer a free version as an introductory tier, which is perfect for you to […]
2017 Year In Review
It’s been a busy 2017 here at Zimventures. On the business side, there were some new opportunities, completed projects, successes, and failures. On the personal side, it was another year of learning, experimenting, playing, new experiences, and so much more. Here’s a quick rundown of the crazy adventure otherwise known as 2017. 2017 Ventures Mr. […]
Occlusion in GameMaker Studio 2
The latest Zimventure, Dungeon Rustlers, is a video game that I’ve been co-developing with my friend Derrick Schommer. We used Game Maker Studio 2 for the development platform. It has many useful features and one in particular we’ll talk about today: custom shaders. In Dungeon Rustlers, I wanted the player to still be able to […]
The Game-Dev Rustlers
Twenty years ago (!) I was hanging out in the college computer lab, reading a book about which assembly registers to twiddle to put the graphics card into direct mode. Crap. Another Blue Screen. Enter one lab monitor, Derrick Schommer (@everydaydrinker), asking me what I was doing to continually keep crashing Windows. Upon learning that I […]
Shader for dynamic sprite outlines in Game Maker Studio 2
While cooking up a new feature for our forthcoming title, Dungeon Rustlers, we thought it may be handy to denote some enemies as special. These “special enemies” drop extra loot but how could we render them differently for the user to easily tell they should be prioritized? Applying an outline, or stroke, to the sprite […]
Python List Comprehension
I’ll be honest, until recently, Python list comprehensions were avoided at all cost. They seemed confusing and akin to a ternary if statement gone horribly amuck. Readability of a list comprehension is tricky because there is no delimiter to segment the various elements (modify, loop, filter logic). Simply put… A list comprehension generates a new list […]
Mr. Freeze
As mentioned in the last post, I was looking into creating a simple solution for incremental backups. As I start hosting more websites, I’ll need to ensure reliable backups are available at various time frequencies. Some hosted sites are so infrequently updated, a monthly backup is all that’s needed. Others, would benefit from hourly point-in-time snapshots in addition to the […]
Software Tool Ideas
During the course of working, I often find myself looking for a software tool to perform a specific task. Sometimes there’s one that fits the bill, other times, there is room for improvement. Lately, two areas have presented an opportunity for a new tool to be created. HTTP Load Generation Lately I’ve been working with DPDK […]
