Archive: February, 2011

This video shows a very quick demo of the isometric depth sorting system in the game engine. You can see the sprite following the position of the mouse cursor and the tile it resides on highlighted underneath it.

Hi all,

Just a quick update really to let you all know that I’ve been working on the documentation a lot and I’ve moved a lot of the info into separate pages so that comments are more directed and discussions can be very targeted.

Most of the new class documentation is empty at the moment but there is significant progress in the IgeEntities class doc (the methods section) so please take a look because this is the format I am proposing for the rest of the classes. Please don’t hesitate to make comments or suggestions about the layout, readability etc as any suggestions will be very much appreciated, even if it’s just a comment to say you’re happy with the format.

Cheers!

This video shows how map data from a single map can be rendered onto two separate viewports that are using different co-ordinate systems. On the left viewport you can see the isometric view of the map and on the right, the 2d version.

Every entity can be given multiple image assets that determine how it is rendered on different co-ordinate systems.

Hi all,

As the time for launch draws closer, I wanted to outline my current thoughts regarding the licensing options for Isogenic, what they mean and then open up a discussion with the community to see if what I am proposing is the best way forward for 90% of you.

So as you will probably know, I am offering 3 license types and these are broken down as such:

N.B. All licenses come with free minor version revision updates (E.G. from version 1 to version 1.5, but not version 2.0).

Free License – Free / Free

What can I do with it?

Write non-commercial games that you can publish as long as no revenue is derived directly from the game. No in-game sales and no in-game advertising is allowed. This license is aimed at students, indie developers or those who wish to try the engine before purchasing a commercial license.

What does it come with?

• Full online API documentation.
• The engine will be obfuscated, minified code and subject to final decision, may only allow games to be hosted on Isogenic Engine’s hosting platform – if this is the case, the server-side code will not be included.
• Free game hosting is limited to 1 game and 10 connections at a time (bandwidth is limited to mitigate runaway costs). Free hosting is provided for 1 month from activation of your game account and after that time, you may choose to upgrade to a monthly hosting package. The free license does not include any server-side code so you are unable to host the server elsewhere, however you are free to write your own server-side code if you choose. ***
• Hosting packages available to ramp up your game and allow for thousands of connections / large bandwidth usage.
• This license is offered to help demonstrate the value of the engine as a development tool and rapid prototyping system.
• This license can be upgraded at any time.

Commercial License – 200 USD / 125 GBP

What can I do with it?

Write commercial and non-commercial games that you can publish and generate revenue from. You may use in-game sales and advertising as you please. You may choose to use the Isogenic Market Place game plugin to allow in-game transactions and micro-payments without having to set up your own merchant account, payment gateway integration or payment processing API.

What does it come with?

• Full online API documentation.
• The engine code will be obfuscated and minified.
• Server-side code is also included so you can run your own server or choose to use our off-the-shelf cloud-based hosting which will allow you to quickly set up and prototype your game without lengthy server install procedures such as Node.js, MongoDB (with clustering and replication) etc.
• Free game hosting is limited to 1 game and 10 connections at a time (bandwidth is limited to mitigate runaway costs). Free hosting is provided for 1 month from the date of purchase. To continue hosting after that time, a hosting package must be purchased or your own hosting system put in place. ***
• You can purchase a hosting package with a recurring monthly fee based upon your cloud usage to expand your game usage to as many connections / bandwidth usage as you want. You can use your own cloud / server solution if you prefer.
• Access to the Isogenic Advertising Network to earn money from your game with in-game adverts.
• Access to the Isogenic Market Place to easily add micro-payments and in-game purchases to your game.
• This license can be upgraded at any time.

Premium License – 1,500 USD / 980 GBP

What can I do with it?

Write commercial and non-commercial games that you can publish and generate revenue from. You may use in-game sales and advertising as you please. You may choose to use the Isogenic Market Place game plugin to allow in-game transactions and micro-payments without having to set up your own merchant account, payment gateway integration or payment processing API.

What does it come with?

• Full online API documentation.
• Non-obfuscated FULL, commented original source code for both client and server.
• Developer support (5 email-based support requests and 2 phone-based support requests, each lasting 1 hour max, including editing your code and helping with integration issues, API technical questions, performance tuning, custom API methods etc).
• Access to exclusive early-release updates, heavily reduced upgrade fees for future major version releases.
• Reduced purchase costs of third-party plugins sold through the Isogenic Engine website.
• Exclusive advertising slots for your game releases on the Isogenic Engine website.
• Exclusive rates on any plugins you develop that are sold through the Isogenic Engine website.
• Exclusive game hosting rates.
• Exclusive cross-selling advertising opportunities within the Isogenic Advertising Network & access to the network to earn revenue from in-game adverts.
• Exclusive rates for the Isogenic Market Place for micro-payments and in-game purchases.
• Run your own server or choose to use our off-the-shelf cloud-based hosting which will allow you to quickly set up and prototype your game without lengthy server install procedures such as Node.js, MongoDB (with clustering and replication) etc.
• Free game hosting is limited to 1 game and 50 connections at a time (bandwidth is limited to mitigate runaway costs). Free hosting is provided for 3 months from the date of purchase. To continue hosting after that time, a hosting package must be purchased or your own hosting system put in place. ***

** Free hosting is provided as a service to help you prototype your game without the hassle of setting up a hosting solution yourself initially. It is not intended as a means to run a full-blown MMO and heavy usage accounts may be bandwidth throttled or temporarily disconnected. If you fall into this category, we will contact you 8 hours before altering your account and you may purchase a hosting package if one is more suitable to your needs. We’re not trying to make millions or be greedy capitalists, just protect ourselves from massive cloud-usage costs that ultimately we have to pay for!

Comments

I open the floor to comments and questions about this post. Please feel free to discuss this and any ideas or concerns you may have. Although the above information is accurate at time of writing, I am always open to discuss your requirements etc and welcome an open debate on the subject.

“Microsoft Doesn’t Care About Developers or Users”. This was the message I took to Brandon Watson, Microsoft’s Director of Development Experience.

When Windows Phone 7 was just being launched, I naturally wanted to try and support it for Isogenic based games and wrote to Brandon to get a feel of the development process and the availability of  a test device. Unfortunately Brandon explained that not only did the phone run, “a version of IE based on v7 and v8″, but that Silverlight support was not included as a browser plugin, only as an actual app in which Silverlight-based code could run. This effectively puts an end to any development I would have done on Windows Phone 7.

In particular I was quite shocked to learn that WP7 had no support for the HTML canvas element and that MS had decided to go with IE7 & IE8 as the basis for the phone’s browser.

I pointed out to Brandon that, “I’m actually a little shocked at Microsoft’s short-sighted Read the rest of this entry »