Brandonman's awesomeness

Wingman Released!

brandonman — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:04:25 +0000

Here’s the thing I have been posting to all of the forums I frequent:

Herges Games is proud to release Wingman, a free Indie Game! In the game, the player controls a space craft, much in the same style as Asteroids, and must fight of 10 enemy aliens per level. Along with these enemy fighters, there are also capital ships, shipyards, and more to be dealt with. The game has fairly simple controls. Left arrow turns left, Right arrow turns right, Up arrow moves forward, back arrow moves back/slows, Space bar shoots, Enter/Return has wingmen target a new enemy, and Tab Key has wingmen form on the player. Feedback is greatly appreciated to the email listed on the website! Please, let me know what you think! http://www.hergesgames.com/wingman.html

Long time, time for an update

brandonman — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:10:25 +0000

Phew, been a long time since my last post. I guess it’s time to update everyone. I’ve been working a lot on my latest game, Wingman. It’s a game, with movement just like asteroids, and the player must destroy enemy ships, capital ships, stations, shipyards, and more. There’s a catch: The player has…… Wingmen! The wingmen swoop in and attack any enemies they are told to target. The game should hopefully be beta here soon. I still need to get transparency on the bmp’s done, which is much tougher then it was in Alien Invasion. For some reason, the code I used in Alien Invasion does not work for transparency in wingman.

I also started an interesting project of homebrewing a CPU. I am building a computer out of logic chips. I have not gotten very far yet, but it’s moving along. I was mainy inspired by http://www.homebrewcpu.com and http://www.stevechamberlin.com/cpu/ which detail construction of their CPU’s. I’ve also been playing Counter Strike Source, and have joined a team for a 3v3 ladder.

BEAM flying robot

brandonman — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:03:01 +0000

Hey everyone. You probably don’t know, but along with game programming, I do a little work with robotics on the side. I build simple hobby robots for my own enjoyment with B.E.A.M. technology. Here is what the acronym means:

B: Biology – Beam Robots are inspired by animals, including the control system (More on this later)
E: Electronics – A given

A: Aesthetics - You don’t want an ugly robot.

M: Mechanics – again, a given

OK, now we know what it means, how do you do it? Well, BEAM robots are built to be very simple, and no need for a microcontroller. They are often built with solar engines (Circuits that store and dump energy from sunlight to power larger circuits) to make them self-sufficiant. A few types of BEAM Robots:

Symet: A symetrical robot that has 1 motor and 3 different ‘arms’ that can touch the ground. When two are touching the ground, it scoots one way, and when it runs into something, it makes 2 different ones touch the ground, moving it in another direction.

Photovore: Means “Light-Eater” in Latin I believe. In their simplest form, they are two solar-engines mushed together into one bot. Other circuits use inverters and photodiodes to control them.

Walker: BEAM robots, normally not powered by solar power, that do exactly as it suggests: Walk! Most of these are either 4 or 6 legged. Two common types are the Bicore and the Microcore, basically circuits that pass along signals with delays in between.

Solar-roller: A circuit that charges up a capacitor with solar power and dumps it to get a long burst.

Those are the basic types of BEAM robots. If you are interested in them, I would suggest www.solarbotics.net for some awesome resources, and the BEAM yahoo group at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/beam/ This discussion group seems to have slowed down a bit, but is still a great place to ask questions, and one of the few. Now read up on the basics and try doing a little bit with this.

Ok, back? Cool. Now onto MY own thing. Last summer I drew up a circuit for a flying robot based on BEAM style controls. I allowed myself to use inrared, inverters, transistors, and motors, and that’s it. I first started by making a simple detection system to raise the aileron whenever a object was detected. IE: If the left side detects, raise the left aileron, vice versa. I next added a checker system to see if the batter was at low power. If it was, I decided to slow down the main motor and raise both ailerons, to flare for landing. That’s about it, the basic circuit. It may be slightly difficult to follow if you do not know much about electronics, but hopefully a fair knowledge should be able to follow it. Now, I haven’t ever finished this robot, so I cannot guarantee it will work. I am actually in the process of prototyping right now, so if you beat me to finishing, let me know how it goes. Here is the schematic:

Stuff from eBay… Part 2!

brandonman — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:05:53 +0000

First, Alien Invasion is now free on my site! www.hergesgames.com

Now then, here we go, missed Stuff from eBay last month.

http://cgi.ebay.com/PLEASE-HELP-ME-TAKE-THE-EVIL-ONE-AWAY-AGAIN_W0QQitemZ150230571432QQihZ005QQcategoryZ1469QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem supposably a cursed, evil, rubber ducky… 13 bids! total 13.83 so far.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SCREW-THIS_W0QQitemZ260224654373QQihZ016QQcategoryZ1469QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem a screw! 1 bid – 99 cents, 1 bid, 5.75 shipping cost

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Greatest-Illinois-Corn-Flake-Ever_W0QQitemZ320233389778QQihZ011QQcategoryZ1469QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem an illinois shaped cornflake… “Not meant for human consumption”

http://cgi.ebay.com/JANIS-JOPLIN-IMAGE-APPEARS-CHOCOLATE-MILK-STAIN-WEIRD_W0QQitemZ140220363627QQihZ004QQcategoryZ1469QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Janis Joplin chocolate milk stain. 9.98, no bids.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ANGEL-IN-THE-WOOD_W0QQitemZ160223881095QQihZ006QQcategoryZ1469QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Angel in a piece of wood. $100! 8 BIDS!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nana-the-Banana-octopus_W0QQitemZ300211943906QQihZ020QQcategoryZ1469QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Nana the Banana Octopus. ‘Nuff Said… 1 bid: 99 cents

Herges Games

brandonman — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:57:07 +0000

The site is up for my games to be sold. I am working on getting the alien invasion video to show, and the custom layout of the store. Well, here it is:

www.hergesgames.com

Feedback appreciated.

Still Alive

brandonman — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:00:33 +0000

Been a couple weeks since my last post, so I will update you guys on what’s going on with me. I’m finally getting ready to sell Alien Invasion. I am working on the HTML for the site, and will be setting up a store-front and a paypal soon. I’ve been working on and off on spec-ops, but not much. Hopefully I’ll have the game online within a week. Took Standardized Testing at school last week, so that took up some time. Well, that’s it.

Installer!

brandonman — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:07:12 +0000

I finally got the installer for alien invasion working. Should begin selling soon. Just have a little bit of “Marketing” to attend to…

If you must know, I am making an Alternate Reality game, but don’t tell anyone…

Platformer AI

brandonman — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 03:58:00 +0000

I took a programming break this week to clear my mind and play some CS:Source. Fun Game. Anyways, came back to Spec-Ops. I got my enemies to show, turns out I wasn’t sending them into the screen, but out of the monitor Now I need ideas for AI. I don’t want pathedic AI (Yes, it was, admit it) like Mario. I would like some sort of strategies. If any readers have any ideas, please leave a comment or e-mail brandonmanrules AT gmail DOT com

replace AT with @ and DOT with ., and get rid of the spaces and you have my email. Protecting from spam.

Stuff on Ebay

brandonman — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:58:22 +0000

I am going to try to do a little “stuff I found on E-Bay” post once a month or so. Well, here’s the first one.

Up first is… A Rusty Paperclip! 11 bids and it is at $11. http://cgi.ebay.com/RUSTY-PAPERCLIP_W0QQitemZ350022205162QQihZ022QQcategoryZ1469QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Now, we have Sammy the Sardine… a can of sardines with 9 bids at 15.50. They have a dumb back-story and everything. http://cgi.ebay.com/Sammy-the-Sardine_W0QQitemZ220197622781QQihZ012QQcategoryZ1469QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Alright…… a paper happy face… 18 bids at 38.50. I’ll warn you, they have an annoying song about a happy face, so turn down sound… http://cgi.ebay.com/A-HAPPY-FACE_W0QQitemZ280198600593QQihZ018QQcategoryZ1469QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Here’s one, a Mercedes logo in an onion ring. quoted: “Bring class into your home for the beginning on this new year!” Amazingly, 0 bids. http://cgi.ebay.com/WEIRD-STUFF-MERCEDES-SIGN-IN-AN-ONION-RING_W0QQitemZ330210015904QQihZ014QQcategoryZ1469QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Here’s a dumb one. 3 Chinese takeout sauces. They sold for 55 cents. Now who would buy this? You can get them free at a Chinese restaurant. Take a look. http://cgi.ebay.com/Chinese-Takeout-Sauces_W0QQitemZ130195995901QQihZ003QQcategoryZ1469QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Here’s a just crazy one. This teacher wants a rich person to give her 30,000 dollars to pay her tuition. A RANDOM person on the Internet wants you to pay her 30k. http://cgi.ebay.com/Help-a-STRUGGLING-teacher_W0QQitemZ200197843344QQihZ010QQcategoryZ1469QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

SpecOps

brandonman — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:47:44 +0000

I started on a platformer today. The player is a special operations person. There are currently 5 levels I’ve designed on paper. I now have to implement them. I have the walking animation done, jumping, walking, and drawing all set up in the game. Now I need to move onto the pesky AI….