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Submitted by , posted on 09 June 2002
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Image Description, by
Here are some screenshots from games developed with the Overloaded Game
Foundation:
This is a set of libraries that we developed here at Overloaded for creating
games at hi-speed.
Overloaded creates content for GPRS connected consumer devices. At the
moment we
focus at PocketPC's and soon Javaphones and smartphones.
Some notes about the tech involved:
The Foundation consists of a set of 'common classes' and a 'game frame'.
The common classes reside in a DLL, so that multiple games use the same
code. This
reduces the download and install size of the individual applications.
The 'game frame' is a state machine that implements standard things like a
splash screen,
the login screen and credit dialogs, but also a menu and gameover screen.
The idea is that
individual applications overload some or all state implementations. The
main loop in the
game frame executes these methods, and takes care of things like screen
updates, audio
handling and other generic activities that need to be done each frame.
The game frame ensures that all applications have the same splash screen
and login
dialogs, unless a coder deliberately bypasses these.
The DLL uses a COM-like interface (by Jaap Suter) that allows us to update
the DLL
without breaking older applications developed with an older version of the
DLL.
The Overloaded Game Foundation can be downloaded (including source code)
from http://overloaded.pocketmatrix.com.
Releasing the sources may seem very odd, but let me explain why we did
this:
In the first place, Overloaded currently does not have enough coders. But
we need a
large portfolio. So we came up with the Overloaded / PocketMatrix Game
Coding Program:
Write a game using our tools, and we pay you $1000. Right now, 9 teams are
working
on 9 games based on our designs, using our tools.
The library and it's source code are not our primary assets. The library
is quickly getting
pretty advanced (with the state machine, the new c-buffer code and all
that), but I believe
you could find all of this on the web if you look well.
Sharing knowledge is the only way to get more of it. :)
About the shots:
The topleft shot shows our logo. :) Right under it, the login screen that
you get with each
Overloaded game. The full implementation is in the DLL, so it can be
updated. Next, three
games: Asterox (top centre), Fraxxon (P2000 classic, top right) and
PocketQuiz. The bottom-
right image is a shot from the parallax scrolling demo (6 layers @ 60fps).
So go check out the website, and the Overloaded forum at
http://www.pocketmatrix.com. :)
If you're interested in PocketPC coding, but don't own a PPC, don't worry,
it's perfectly
possible to write games using our library on a desktop machine (using VC),
and you
could still earn that $1000 cheque. :)
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