Llamasoft does TxK for Sony Vita

[fog]

That was quick. Looking super vibrant and silky smooth already. That OLED screen.

[zip accident]

Does this mean I need a Vita (I have an overdue Xmas present, my fault for not specifying)?

[Jamesac]

Non-mobile version of the video.

James

[fog]

I see Sony are launching an Indie Games category on PSN to help showcase all the indie talent they have signed up recently.

Some will argue they are being flexible with their definition of "indie" as Journey is in there, but at least it means the Indie Games area should get plenty of extra exposure and that can't do TxK any harm.

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2013/05/ ... ion-store/

I’m delighted that the indie devs have really taken advantage of how open PlayStation is to this tremendous mix of designs and ideas, and that we’re happy to work with everything from traditional buy-and-play games, to free-to-play. We haven’t asked you to trade in sheep for games yet, but I’m sure it’ll come soon.

[PVB]

Vector genrator test:

[PVB]

Gnu pic from Twitter:

[axel000]

Must say I like the change in the art style around the sprite-y thingies. Looks abstract, sorta geometry-wars-ish. Tempest 2000 + Geometry wars iconism.... slurp

[everklear]

I like the idea of varying the depth of the web. Cool gameplay possibilities, methinks.

[Whiteball]

Ah, nuts. I'm just going to have to get me a Vita now after all.

[Yak]

Can't begin to describe how lovely it looks on an actual Vita screen.

Enjoying this so much .

[fog]

One of the problems with showing screenshots and videos of the Vita is they can never replicate the screen size, pixel density and vibrancy of the display. Much like showing retina display iOS stuff doesn't really work.

Those screenies do look lovely already mind.

[Jest of EVE]

Jesus Jeff you work so quickly it makes my head spin. Do you actually know you've got quite a head for switching platforms these days, or is it just 'Meh, oh yeah. No problem'?

[Whiteball]

Jesus Jeff you work so quickly it makes my head spin. Do you actually know you've got quite a head for switching platforms these days, or is it just 'Meh, oh yeah. No problem'?

Makes me sick, I've been trying to code something for what now seems like months and months and still got nowhere

[Yak]

Basically it's a combination of me and Giles working very well in parallel (somehow we just go off to our respective computers and do what's necessary) and really good documentation from Sony. There are certain basic things that need done - make geometry, run shaders, make noises, read controls - to get off the mark making a game, and the first few days are spent just making those things happen.

TBH I'm really happy that the thing seems to be finding its style now, we went in with just the intention "we're gonna make TxK and it's going to be really awesome!" and there's always a scary period for me where that intention has to connect with an actual design. It's the really important bit and I'm never sure exactly how or why it happens but it just seems to every time. It's always a leap of faith and it's good to come through the first part and have a good feeling for the platform and the game itself.

I really like that it's tending away from the usual "loads of stuff onscreen and gobs of feedback" and becoming something elegant and smooth and sharp.

Getting up on the hardware is probably the least scary part (growing up programming stuff in machine code you pretty much realise you can code absolutely anything given the documentation). For me the terrifying part is finding the right direction. You always wonder if one day you just won't find it like you usually do. It's always a relief when you realise that you know which way to go.

Working on this is an absolute joy for me at the moment. I know where I want to go, and the hardware is lovely. And I don't have that feeling of "well it's only going to make 50p on the app store at the end of the day" that sucks the joy out of everything. I feel like I've actually got a little space to step back and actually make something beautiful rather than just desperately bang out stuff as fast as I can and that makes all the difference, and makes me want to work harder .

[gilesgoat]

After my last experience on Android where almost everything was a struggle and quite a plava to understand "how to" despite having in the end obtained a result that I think it's pretty satisfactory of course "there's a universe of difference" between that experience and the one I am having so far on Vita.

Vita is like "the cleanest plattform I've seen so far" "cleanest" as in "give me the essentials of what I need, and let me do it the way I prefer it", I think one problem nowadays some libs are got 'too much for their own good' to support many different plattforms that are too different at the risk sometime to get something that rather than simplify coding they make it even worse.

The documentation .. is magic .. the examples .. are really clear .. and there's a team, there's stuff behind that if you need to know something you can ask and you'll get clear answers in short time.

It's a really lovely feeling that you see you are actually working on an architecture that is really well done and it's really well done precisely for the work it is supposed to do, really stunny games with amazing graphics.

And, icing of the cake, it's C++, it's C++, it's the lovely super lovely C++, no fraking nonsense no fraking languages-I-wont-name-the-only-good-thing-with-that-name-is-maybe-the-coffee-beans !

What I think is also .. well I dunno really how we can do it but we do it is that thing that me and Yak we manage quite early to work in non-overlapping sections and quite meet 'the same speed' then we can 'merge' and continue with 'ok you do this I do that', sometime Yak tells me "hey I'd like to have something that does like this" and then it's like "ok you'll have it"

I think also an important thing about the way me and Yak we do things is that "we are not scared to do it all over again" and, despite sometime you are scared at thinking "oh dear that's lost time"
sometime you have to thrash away things, sometime you try something and you see "ok this is not going to work, let's forget about this for now" the thing is we always try to try something new
or some new approach in the stuff we do, it's NEVER "just the same thing" or "the same code" .. it's always been different.

Anyway yeah this Vista thing so far as the really nice feeling of a really fresh thing, now enough writing back to code