The Probe

Wow, a new version…finally!!

paul_nicholls — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:52:46 +0000

Hi all,
I have finally uploaded the latest version of The Probe which can be found in the downloads page!! It comes with a change log, help document (.pdf file), an editor mode, and stand-alone level mode This version of The Probe is a completely rewritten version with the new physics engine behind the scenes…so it should work much better regarding gameplay.

Sorry about the wait, and enjoy!

cheers,
Paul

New demo of The Probe is almost ready!

paul_nicholls — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:19:10 +0000

Hey all,
I have just about gotten a new demo of The Probe ready which uses the replacement physics engine behind the scenes, and even includes a built in editor! You can run the The Probe in standard mode, stand-alone level mode (run separate levels), and editor mode (edit separate levels). The editor mode works in conjunction with stand-alone mode, so you can just play them or edit/create them too.

I just need to add in a main menu again (standard mode), and create some test levels to be included in the standard mode, and I will upload it…

Will talk very soon!

Game controllers and other stuff

paul_nicholls — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:54:28 +0000

Well, I have now finished game controller support for the standard bits that one might need – axis (x,y,z), and buttons. I might add in hat and ball support later on, but I don’t need this ATM for The Probe; I am doing the minimum stuff for the game and expand the engine later on.

One other thing I AM adding into the engine is Immediate Mode GUI support (IMGUI) so I can easily have the users select, edit, or input information, or just display messages in the game.
I had already done this in another version of The Probe, and I am porting it over to this engine. It will include buttons, graphical buttons (text-less), radio buttons, check boxes, windows, panels, and scrollbars – all with lovely graphical bits just like a real GUI

Cross-platform goodness abounds!

paul_nicholls — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:46:45 +0000

Woo Hoo! I have managed to make my game engine, which I am using to power The Probe, also work in a Linux OS too (Ubuntu 11.04), as well as in Windows.
This was possible because I am using SDL (windowing, keyboard/mouse/joystick), OpenGL (graphics), and OpenAL (sound).

Once I have finished adding in gamepad/joystick support into the engine, I can then keep working on The Probe

cheers,
Paul

New ‘fuel’ for The Probe

paul_nicholls — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:21:28 +0000

I have been writing a new game engine in parallel to coding The Probe, and I am now using the same engine to power the game. This will hopefully allow me to create versions of The Probe for Windows, Linux, and maybe even Mac OSX with very little source code changes!

The game engine uses OpenGL for its graphics, and OpenAL for the sound. I think I will switch the Windowing/input side of things over to use SDL (Simple Direct-media Layer) as this will make my life much easier, not having to code separate OS versions of these parts
I am quite excited about my progress so far – almost all the game’s basic functionality is now ported to the new game engine, even some extra stuff that wasn’t in the uploaded version.

Will talk soon!
cheers,
Paul

Still alive

paul_nicholls — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:55:57 +0000

I am letting you know that I am still alive!

I know I haven’t done any updates to The Probe for a while now but I hope to do some more very soon – life and other stuff has gotten in the way for longer than I would have liked

cheers,
Paul

Physics engine now has TLS sytem added!

paul_nicholls — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 05:42:18 +0000

I have now gotten the Teleport Laser System (TLS) added into the new physics engine for The probe…yay!

cheers,
Paul

Levels and demos…

paul_nicholls — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 05:39:08 +0000

Very sweet…now I can record all movements (including firing) while playing a level, and play it back again later as a demo (or even a tutorial I guess)…cool bananas!

cheers,
Paul

Spam proofing…

paul_nicholls — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 05:06:24 +0000

Hey all,
Lately I have been getting a lot of spam comments, so I am trialling a captcha system to hopefully stop the smap comments…

I hope the legit users don’t find it too annoying, but I had to try something

cheers,
Paul

Re-working The Probe physics…

paul_nicholls — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 02:45:49 +0000

Hey all,
I have delayed uploading the latest version of The Probe due to re-factoring work being done behind the scenes to change how the physics works in the game.

I wasn’t happy with how it is currently working so I am changing it (hopefully for the better).

My apologies for the delay, but I want to deliver a better product prior to uploading it…

cheers,
Paul