Following is the archive of prior “cool thing of the week” entries. The Cool thing of the week is simply something I discovered, generally on the topic of game programming, that I think you should check out. If you have a recommendation for a future “cool thing” email me. Please also let me know if a link below goes dead.
Previous Cool Things
March 21st, 2012
| AIDE
Ok, there is something seriously cool about writing code for a mobile device ON the mobile device. This is exactly what AIDE allows you to do, it’s a full Java development environment allowing you to code on the go. If you’ve got a tablet with a keyboard, it’s actually a feasible way to develop your app. |
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March 21st, 2012
| Audacity
Unless you are remaking Zork, at some point you are going to need to add audio to your game. Chances are you are going to need to record it, import it or otherwise edit it in some way. Fancy paying several hundred dollars for this ability? Didn’t think so, frankly neither do I. Fortunately Audacity exists, a completely free ( as in beer and as in freedom ) audio capture and editing program. More importantly, it’s quite good! |
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March 7th, 2012
| Invent with Python
Just starting out at game development and daunted by the options? Like free? Well then this is the perfect link for you. Author Al Sweigart has written two new-developer friendly Python game programming books and amazingly enough made both available completely free. |
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February 10th, 2012
| Sculptris
A very cool 3D sculpting application. Like working with clay, model highly detailed models with ease. Did I happen to mention, it’s free? |
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January 26th, 2012
| Node.JS
Ever considered using Javascript on the server side? You should! Node enables you do use Javascript to make light weight and scalable servers, easily. |
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January 14th, 2012
| The Khan Academy
No, it has absolutely nothing to do with Star Trek! The Khan Academy is a non-profit resource with thousands of video tutorials on hundreds of topics. Of particular use to game developers are the math tutorials which cover the range from early grade school math up to university level subjects. |
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January 4th, 2012
| Mobile Framework Comparison Tool
Want to find a cross platform game development framework that targets your preferred mobile platforms using your favorite programming language? Need it to support certain features? Require it to be free? Finding the options overwhelming? This tool can help! |
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December 30th, 2011
| Prinz Eugn’s Free aircraft sprite pack
A collection of freely available hand drawn aircraft sprites, some based on real life planes such as the F18 to the right as well as some “futuristic” planes. Sprites are of a high quality, available in a number of angles and are ready to be dropped into your game. |
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December 19th, 2011
| Ebonyfortress.com List of free game development libraries
A monster list of “free” game development libraries. It provides an extremely comprehensive list of free ( mostly C/C++ ) libraries useful for game developers, as well as the license they are released under. Categories include 2D/3D graphics, animation, networking, images, scripting, math and at least half a dozen others. Need a library and have no money? This is probably the perfect place to start. |
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