Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Week 3 practical

Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Week 2 ~ Answers to the questions.
Question 1 – Why there are no errors and nothing has happened?
The glut.h file was initially missing from the header file. In order to correct that, I had to remove the header file and add the GLUT file in itself, that is, adding the "glut.h" file into the header after taking away "header.h" to prevent errors.
Question 2 – Define a Callback function?
A Callback function can be described as a function that is called when something happens. This function is declared beforehand.
Question 3 – When exactly is RenderScene()called? How do you get to your
findings?
Since the function -> glutDisplayFunc(RenderScene) has the RenderScene function registered to it, that function is called back after glutDisplayFunc runs.
Question 4 – List the process to access the VRAM.
~If according to the code that I'm gonna post~
Start by creating a struct. This struct represents a pixel on the screen. Do create a pointer to create a memory space for the application size. (in this case, an array, size 800 by 600)
Copy the memory buffer, then clean it for rendering the image. The buffer will copy the image onto the VRAM to be displayed on the screen.
Delete the dynamic array created after use! Memory leak is dangerous!!!
Question 5 – What color format are we using here i.e. 8 bits, 16 bits, 24 bits or 32 bits?
Since we are using (Red,Blue,Green), we are using 24bits.
Question 6 – How much memory have we allocated?
(array size) x (24 bits / 8) = 1,440,000 bytes (approx. 1.37 MB)
Question 7 – Describe what has glDrawPixel() done.
glDrawPixel() transfers a pixel array out of host memory to the framebuffer.
Here is an example.
glDrawPixels(800,600,GL_RGB,GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, g_pBuffer);
I shall post the code up on my blog, since I do not know how to make files available for download.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Week 1 Log ~ Game Review
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~~~Basic Information~~~
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Title of the Game : Devil May Cry 3 (Special Edition)
Platform of Game : Playstation 2 / Personal Computer (I'm reviewing the PC version)
Genre of Game : Fantasy Action Adventure
Developer : CAPCOM
Released on October 16th, 2006. Original game released on March 1st, 2005.
Game Requirements (minimal) : 1 GHz Pentium III
256 MB of RAM
128 MB of Video Memory
Hard Drive Space : 4700 MB
Operating System : Windows 2000 / XP
~~~ Description ~~~

Chronologically, Devil May Cry 3 is a prequel to the original Devil May Cry game. It features the story of Dante (the game's main protagonist) in his younger days. He has a cockier attitude than in the later games (his dark side awakens in later games), and seems to be more carefree.
My viewpoint of the story:
A young, arrogant devil hunter, who cared only for battle ...
His twin brother, on his quest to obtain the power of the Legendary Dark Knight...
A mysterious man, who helps the dark twin, but what is his true purporse?
A lady, whos eyes look familiar. What are her objectives?
And an unnammed shop. What will the devil hunter name it eventually?
~~~Graphics~~~
Although not comparable to morden games, the in-game graphics are really good for its time. Textures looked pretty realistic, lightings were just right, water would ripple and splash realistically enough, and ice sparkled when light shone on them.
However, there are some parts which does not look too good. When Dante pressed a button on his jukebox in the beginning of the game, it just showed a red glow instead of actually pushing a button. Some objects would have a painfully visible line on them, where there would be an edge, like in the picture. This makes the objects look and feel flat at times. (Where either horn like statue is.)

Hair was also not well done, they were done in chunks, rather than almost strand by strand. Fire effects looked alright for its time. Interestingly, hardly any smoke was produced. One element that I was looking out for were shadows, and I was certainly not dissapointed, as shadows were present, as well as realistic.
Overall, the graphics were pretty good, but there is one place where the graphics really looked terrible. (Screenshot yet to be posted.) I have to wonder, why is the backgrond graphics so odd, and since it is also the last level, I wonder if they ran out of time to produce decent graphics for this part of the game.
~~~Gameplay~~~
Basically, you take control of the devil hunter Dante, in third person view. Your basic goal is to get to the end of each mission (there are 20 missions). The first 3 missions are fairly linear, introducing the player to the basic controls, what keys activates what weapon, and basic actions. After the initial stages, the gameplay becomes less linear, with hidden secrets to find, puzzles to solve, and boss battles frequently littered throughout the stages.
There are different styles available in the game. You can play as the agile "Trickster", the combo expert "Swordmaster", the far range sniping "Gunslinger", or the firm and defensive "Royalguard". These styles may only be switched at the beggining, or at special statues located in the maps. These styles can "Level up", unlocking better moves in the process.Beating the game on different difficulty settings, and depending on how well your performance was, unlocks special bonuses, including different artwork, costumes which either alter the appearance of the characters or giving the character an unlimited "Devil Trigger", and an alternate game mode, "Bloddy Palace". This game mode makes you go through 9999 levels, battling various combinations of monsters up on the way, with a boss battle every 10 levels.
The special edition made for the computer shares the same controls as the playstation version, except that the player uses the keyboard to play, instead of a controler. This makes playing the game on the computer a little more challenging for those who are used to using the controler.
The bonus features in this game includes the options to speed up the gameplay to 120% of its original speed, and the ability to play through the game with Dante's twin brother, Vergil. The Vergil storyline follows that of Dante, except that he has his own set of moves, a slightly altered storyline (shown in a few cutscenes), and a different set of clothings. Aside from that, playing through the game with Vergil is no different than playing with Dante.
~~~Sound~~~
The music in the game is just awesome. When there are no enemies around, the music being played has this eerie feel to it, like something evil lurks around the next bend. Battle music, however, is based on a gothic theme, and is fast paced, which is just right for fighting in this game.
Sound effects are pretty good as well. Weapons give off sound when they are used (Sword swishing when swung, rockets blast out of the launcher and explodes upon contact).
Interestingly, sashing most enemies gives off a sound like a sword going through sand. This should make sense, as most enemies are composed entirely of sand, save for their weapons.
However, there are enemies made of stone, molten rock (i think, because they have a weakness to ice based attacks) and flesh (Vergil of course, what do you think he's made of? wood?). Hitting them produces different sounds (like the squishy sound made by hitting enemies comprised of molten rock), and if they block, the familiar sounds of two swords clashing together can be heard.
There are sounds in the background as well. Waterfalls, lava pits, gears turning. Moving further away or closer to these sounds dims and heightens the sounds in a realistic manner.
~~~Conclusion~~~
This game is a must play for hardened fans of Devil May Cry, and for newbies to the Devil May Cry world. It is a game that is equally easy going as challenging, as the level difficulties differs slowly throughout the missions.
So if you like games which involving the combination of puzzle solving, exploration, survival and mad comboing, this is a game for you.
~END~
Week 1 Log ~ Math recap.
I feel that one of the more confusing topics would be Matrices, as I could not, initially, grasp what was going on. I could not get the idea of arranging numbers in brackets. It mae no sense to me in the beggining, until the teacher explained a few times through.
Vectors were alright, I could understand what was being taught.
Algebra?.... Honestly... It killed me.
I'm not pleased with my Math results. I need to work harder this term to keep up... (Actually, all my subjects too... I really don't want to get retained...)
~Requesting any pros out there to help me, chun yuan u too~