Blog
107 posts on game development, programming, and indie games.
- blogby MrPhilCrimson Crisis: Where We've Been and Where We're Going
A couple months ago I started game development again. Which begs the question: What am I going to do about Crimson Crisis?
- blogby MrPhilGame design through animation?
I'm experimenting with using animation as a design tool. Trying to get my ideas organized and out of my head. Tiktok seems like a good place for these sort o...
- blogby MrPhilJai close to Beta!
Last night, Abner announced on his Twitch stream that Jai is close to beta release. He showed a list of items that Jon Blow and the Jai Team have agreed need...
- blogby MrPhilDay 1
Today is a special day for me. It is Day 1 of my Indie adventure! I’m pretty excited and a bit scared!I'll be blogging about my experien...
- blogby MrPhilThe Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it be...
- blogby MrPhilLudum Dare 41: First Time with Godot
I'll be participating in Ludum Dare 41! Pretty excited to use Godot for the first time!
- blogby MrPhilLudum Dare 41
I'll be participating in Ludum Dare 41! Pretty excited to use Godot for the first time! I might make some posts over on ldjam.com : MrP...
- blogby MrPhilTower Defence: Ludum Dare 40 Warmup Game
Ludum Dare is coming soon, Dec 1 and occasionally I like to use new techs during the jam. So, I’ve decided to try Gamemaker 2 this time...
- blogby MrPhilUnite Austin 2017
I attended Unity’s Conference, Unite, in Austin this year. There are a lot of interesting improvements coming down the pipeline but not...
- blogby MrPhilWeird Fractal Thing
It isn't a game, but I made this interesting looking thing, a sort of moving fractal. I know my Grandpa would have thought it was cool...
- blogby MrPhilUnity Subscriptions, What You Need to Know
Update: Unity has announced some changes here: http://blogs.unity3d.com/2016/06/16/evolution-of-our-products-and-pricing/ I've made ed...
- blogby MrPhilSeamless Texture Generator (Update)
A follow-up post about the Seamless Texture Generator with a link to learn more.
- blogby MrPhilNotes on Jiro Dreams of Sushi
I watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi on Jonathan Blow's recommendation, he calls it an example of "Deep Work." Jiro Ono makes sushi, and has be...
- blogby MrPhilWhat Unity Games are on Steam?
Updated 2014-01-16This is a question I hear a lot and here's what I've learned: 2013 Race the Sun [source] ittle Dew [source] ...
- blogby MrPhilLet's Play: Horse Lords of Bolighar
I decided to do an experiment this month and make some Let's Play YouTube videos. I'm playing Crusader Kingdoms 2 with the Horse Lords...
- blogby MrPhilI voted in the IGDA 2015 Board of Directors Election! Have you? #IGDAElection
# I voted in the IGDA 2015 Board of Directors Election! Have you? #IGDAElection MrPhil · 10 years ago · [News](/web/20250207183103/https://mrphilgame...
- blogby MrPhilNotes on How To Design Deep Games with Jonathan Blow
I watched Jonathan Blow's talk How To Design Deep Games with Jonathan Blow which is actually kind of a misleading title because the tal...
- blogby MrPhilNAND To Rule Them All
Just a little something I've been messing with. #LogicGates #NANDToRuleThemAll pic.twitter.com/iIx7zaOUxl— MrPhil (@xMrPhil) January 2...
- blogby MrPhilText Adventure gamejam from afar with IGDA DC
The DC chapter of IGDA is doing a Text Adventure gamejam this weekend at the Westwood college:http://sjklevine.com/igda_dc/textjam/I n...
- blogby MrPhilTech Demo: Voronoi Algorithm
Here's a small tech demo I've been working on. It's the application of the Voronoi Algorithm to a map's political boundaries as two pla...
- blogby MrPhilNotes on Jonathan Blow's Reddit Ask Me Anything
Jonathan Blow did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit Friday: I am Jonathan Blow, game development person; ask me stuff.I was specifically int...
- blogby MrPhilGame A Week Resources (and Level A Week)
The idea: - Make Many Games: Learn Many Things and Game A Week: Getting Experienced At FailureGame A Week: Facebook Group, subRedditLev...
- blogby MrPhilGame A Week 2
Week 2Idea: Strategy game about screening army/infantry movements using Calvary (like Napoleon did.)What went right: Nothing really.Wha...
- blogby MrPhilGame A Week 1
Adriel Wallick's wonderful post-mortem about her Game A Week experiment inspired me to try it out.Week 1Idea: How many games of pong ca...
- blogby MrPhilSustainable Creativity
Here's a wonderful webcomic about sustainable creativity by Stephen McCraine. It has some great insight and perspective on procrastinat...
- blogby MrPhilPosttraumatic Growth
We often hear of Posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD, especially associated with combat veterans and difficulties they face returnin...
- blogby MrPhilJAI Language
Jonathan Blow of Braid fame gave a really interesting Twitch/YouTube talks about making a new language to replace C/C++ that is specifically for making games...
- blogby MrPhilThe New Yorker's THE OPEN-OFFICE TRAP
An extremely interesting article has been published in The New Yorker this week: THE OPEN-OFFICE TRAP I think this is a very important ...
- blogby MrPhilIron Roads has a Greenlight Page!
I'm happy to report that the Greenlight page for Iron Roads went live last night! Please, show your support by Voting for the project!T...
- blogby MrPhilSeamless Texture Generator
Exciting news! I've become the owner of Seamless Texture Generator which is a great tool for making tile textures for games (and other s...
- blogby MrPhilGDC 2013
This was my best GDC yet. I had some great business cards, my resume and something to talk about: founding and running the Washington...
- blogby MrPhilPAX East!
I went to PAX East! My first PAX. It was overwhelming and I had a great time. I was so busy going to panels and meeting people I di...
- blogby MrPhilGlobal Game Jam 2013
I participated in the Global Game Jam this year. It was my second appearence, the first time being in 2010 on Space Exodus.Here are my...
- blogby MrPhilDev Log 1/11/2013
This evening I worked on basic boiler plate stuff. I put some stuff up on github including Futile QuickStart I even made a pull reques...
- blogby MrPhilRecommended Game Development Reading, Watching and Playing
Updated 8/08/2013 Where to Start? Tips on your "First Game" Indie Game Design Do-s and Don't-s: A Manifesto Indie Resources @ Pix...
- blogby MrPhilFutile Quick Start
Futile is a framework that allows you to control rendering within Unity programmatically. This is a boon to anyone interested in 2D games and finds, like mys...
- blogby MrPhilGames Need Juice
I highly recommend watching this video about adding "juiciness" to game design:
- blogby MrPhilLudum Dare 24 - Post Mortem
- **Date:** August 24th-27th 2012 - **Theme:** Evolution - **Duration:** 48 hours to create a game from scratch
- blogby MrPhilInspiration: Small Worlds by David Shute
I first played "Small Worlds" by David Shute in 2009, and it won CGDC #6. This game has stuck in my mind for three key reasons:
- blogby MrPhilKickstarter: The Last Sleeper
I added The Last Sleeper to my list of Kickstart projects today. I really think the music by Erik Aadahl is well done. The latest upd...
- blogby MrPhilKickstarter Projects Worthy of Your Support
Here's another batch of interesting game project I've supporting on Kickstarter. They a look they need more support: UFHO2 - A Turn-ba...
- blogby MrPhilSeeds Of Destruction
I've just finished Ludum Dare 23. The theme was Tiny World, so I made a game about Seed warfare. It came out pretty good. You can pla...
- blogby MrPhilIron Roads Goes to New Orleans
- Figured out how to drawn lines using sprites, Thank you to XNA wiki - Rail links between cities drawn - Added a bunch of cities: Spr...
- blogby MrPhilWAUUG is born!
One my achomplishments of the holidays was the sucessful launch of WAUUG or the Washington (DC) Area Unity3D Users Group.http://capitalg...
- blogby MrPhilXNA SpriteFonts
While working on Iron Roads today, I tried to use the custom font Radius (a free font from Urban Fonts.) I like how the letters look...
- blogby MrPhilHurricane Irene
If you want to help the victims of Irene start here: Network For Good: Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene is causing a lot of stir. Game...
- blogby MrPhilArt Requires Influence
These are some thought provoking videos about the origin of art and creativity. I recommend you watch them:
- blogby MrPhilLudum Dare 21 - Update 2
Sick of fighting with Unity. Switching to XNA. And, I have a party to goto now, so I don't expect too much of a game done by Sunday night. That's the way Lud...
- blogby MrPhilLudum Dare 21
I'm about half way through this weekend's Ludum Dare 21 (although the traffic level is really bad right now.) The theme is _Escape_.
- blogby MrPhilSfxr + ActionScript = bfxr
Someone took Dr. Petter's awesome sound effects wizard Sfxr and rewrote in ActionScript. Not only that, but they made it open source and added the ability to...
- blogby MrPhilLudum Dare 21 - Conclusion
I didn't finish. I just didn't have my weekend clear. You really need a clear weekend to finish Ludum Dare. The tech change in the midd...
- blogby MrPhilLudum Dare 21 - Update 3
The XNA version of my game now surpasses the Unity version. What's working: Player display Player movement Player collision with i...
- blogby MrPhilLudum Dare 20 Has Begun
It's going to be a hard Ludum Dare, because the theme is It's Dangerous to go Alone! Take this!
- blogby MrPhilLudum Dare Career
Ludum Dare 19 is right around the corner, so let's take a moment to review my Ludum Dare Career.LD #6 - Light and Darkness, 2005 Puzzle...
- blogby MrPhilMinecraft: The Story of Mojang
The film makers behind the Penny Arcade series are making a documentary about Minecraft (you've heard of Minecraft right!?!) They are...
- blogby MrPhilShoppe is back up
The Mr. Phil Games Shoppe's database crashed horrible this weekend. I tried several different ways to get it back in operations, but w...
- blogby MrPhilLudum Dare 19 – UNSS Pasteur
What is Ludum Dare?: You have 48 hours to make a game from scratch meeting a theme announced at the start of the contest. Learn more ab...
- blogby MrPhilLudum Dare 19 Coming Soon
I'll be participating in Ludum Dare 19 - December 17th-20th, 2010, you can follow my dev diary of the event at Ludum Dare's site. I'm a...
- blogby MrPhilSeptember 11th
Today marks the anniversary of September 11th. I want to take a moment to remember Teresa Martin, a Civilian Employee confirmed dead at the Pentagon on Septe...
- blogby MrPhilGames are Art, here's my example
Roger Ebert has softened his stance on video games as art. While he isn't convinced that some game, somewhere might be art, he at least leaves that it is pos...
- blogby MrPhilIron Roads Retargeted to SilverLight 3.0
The big news today is that Silverlight 3.0 has been released. This is means a change for Iron Roads. I've been working with Silverlight...
- blogby MrPhilNo Progress on Iron Roads
It has been a while since I'm made any posts because I've been so busy with the move. On April 1st (no fooling) I drove a U-Haul with...
- blogby MrPhilMore wiggly coasts
The top image is an older screen shot so you can better see my progress and the second one I took today. You have to look hard to see...
- blogby MrPhilBANNED! Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble!
Big Fish Games has banned "Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble" from their service. Despite having a Teen rating from TIGRS, the game was removed due to "...
- blogby MrPhilDangerous High School Girls in Trouble!
Congratulations to Mousechief! Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! has been nominated by the Writer's Guild of America as a 2009 Video Game Writing Award...
- blogby MrPhilNew Project: Iron Roads
The holidays have kept me so busy I haven't talked any about my new project. Another Ludum Dare 48 Hour game development contest occurred the weekend of Dece...
- blogby MrPhilLudum Dare 13: Iron Roads
I went on a old hard drive adventure this evening. My quest was to recover my code and executable from Ludum Dare 13 - Roads, from way b...
- blogby MrPhilSilverLight DevCamp Nugget #4
I'm running into some technical challenges with Visual Studio 2005 and SilverLight XAML files. The validation and Intellisense aren't working correctly for X...
- blogby MrPhilDay of Infamy
December 7, 1941 - Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese naval force consisting of 6 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 2 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser,...
- blogby MrPhilWill Wright on the Colbert Report
Will Wright appeared on the Colbert Report last night. A kind netizen has posted the segment on Google Video. Mr. Wright does a great job and even managed to...
- blogby MrPhilTom Miller's render loop, a revision
Tom Miller, Managed DirectX's father figure, has made several posts on the game loop or render loop for the managed environment. His lastest post on the subj...
- blogby MrPhilMr. Phil Games Update
My download games website: Mr. Phil Games com got an update on Friday. It is a little less than I was aiming for but the "Featured" game section isn't quite ...
- blogby MrPhilSource Code Search Engine
A search engine for source code called Krugle launching in March!
- blogby MrPhilDevil is in the details, right?
I recently got my hands on **Game Architecture and Design**. So far I've been impressed with it and I'm going to try and follow it chapter by chapter and app...
- blogby MrPhilT2D release Alpha 4!
Garage Games has release Alpha 4 of T2D 1.1 and it is a more complete release than the previous alphas.
- blogby MrPhilESA: Sales, demographics and usage data
The ESA (Entertainment Software Association) has released 2005 ESSENTIAL FACTS ABOUT THE COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY.
- blogby MrPhilTa Da! Make It Big In Games
Jeff Tunnell of Garage Games has launched a new blog site call Make It Big In Games.
- blogby MrPhil325,902 Xbox 360 sold in November
More at http://www.gameinformer.com/NR/exeres/2A7C6498-633B-4EE2-A453-BA241BB736D6.htm
- blogby MrPhilTaperwire
"These products could be the solution to many a geeks problems. Imagine all your cat5 and speaker wires disappearing into the walls with out having to acutal...
- blogby MrPhilMy excuse for procrastinating Christmas shopping this weekend
I've found the perfect excuse to procrastinate Christmas shopping for the entire weekend! The Ludum Dare starts tonight at midnight! What Ludum Dare? It is a...
- blogby MrPhilA new direction
I've decided to be more open about my game development process. I am creating a 4X strategy game, and I want to share my journey with you.
- blogby MrPhilWhy I'm back and what I've learned
I want to share my struggles with procrastination and finding motivation in game development, along with two key insights I've learned:
- blogby MrPhilStrategy Pattern
The Strategy Pattern allows flexibility in object behavior for game development. Here's a C# example that demonstrates how to encapsulate different behaviors...
- blogby MrPhilEngine Code Reorganized
Feeling pretty sick today, but I finished the code reorganizing I started yesterday.
- blogby MrPhilPortal Code Organized
Got the portal code all organized today and into the Vault, thanks SourceGear.
- blogby MrPhilSite Overhaul
I switched the website to the ASP.Net platform today using the www.asp.net portal starter kit.
- blogby MrPhilA blog day
Lately I've found myself reading blogs because I'll come across them while hunting for a coding solution on the web.
- blogby MrPhilInteresting Fail States and more
I spent my first day at the Game Developer Conference this year in the Play Testing Strategies Tutorial.
- blogby MrPhilDid you say, "Make a game with C#?"
Been doing a lot of research and work lately! I found some resources and technology I'm really excited about.
- blogby MrPhilBootstraps Vs Tall Shoulders
Should I use a game engine or not? Initially my gut reaction is to resist. I don't want to use someone else's work.
- blogby MrPhil(INSERT BIG BANG SOUND)
And so Mr. Phil makes his first blog entry. The purpose of this blog is to create a record of my struggle against procrastination and other ghastly inner demons.