Monthly Archives March 2015

To continue my string of updated GameMaker projects, last night I uploaded a new version of my old Mandelbrot Fractal Explorer project, finally making it compatible with GameMaker: Studio.

The previous version was built in GameMaker 6, and relied on old functions like screen_refresh(), which have since been removed from the program. Surfaces are much more robust these days, so I've employed them instead of the old tech. I've made a handful of improvements to the functionality of the program as well, including making the zoom center on the view (this had always bothered me before), adding a timer to the render process, and moving the fractal drawing code out of a script (which basically froze the program for input on every update/render) and into the step event where the fractal surface is updated progressively, and the user can easily interrupt it at any time.

Render times remain an issue of course, but this was originally just an attempt to see if I could build something that would render fractals at all, so I still consider it a success.

The full source for this project is now available on my GameMaker Examples & Tutorials page, so if you'd like to tear it apart, make it better, or just see how it works, go right ahead!

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I've managed to get my 3D rain example for GameMaker updated for GameMaker: Studio. I'm accomplishing updates at a pace that I can't sustain, woohoo!

This new version is near-fully commented and includes an updated rain effect that uses very simple models instead of textured walls. It also introduces water splash ripples and has a much better skybox than before.

Check out the updated example at my GameMaker Examples & Tutorials page.

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I'm continuing to pick through my old GameMaker examples and update them for GameMaker: Studio, and the most recent example I've fixed now is the Faux Mode 7 example, which recreates the look of the original Mario Kart in GameMaker.

The example doesn't emulate true Mode 7 (it uses GameMaker's native 3D functions), but it uses a combination of techniques to create a retro 3D look.

You'll find the updated files for this example on my GameMaker Examples & Tutorials page.

It seems like I come back to my old GameMaker examples and update one of them about once a year. I try to do better than that, and probably do, but that's how it feels sometimes!

Anyway, today I updated my example of a textured vertex path in GameMaker: Studio. I've spent some time removing a lot of the code that didn't need to be there, renaming some variables and assets so that they make a little more sense, and adding comments all around.

Check it out on my GameMaker: Studio Examples & Tutorials page.

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two-trees-5

Here's another update to my lighting test scene I've been playing around with in Blender.

I tore out the entire original scene, save for the trees, and re-worked the pieces so they'd fit together better. I might do more work like this in the future, so I can make "islands" of any shape, but for now I'm pretty happy with how things look.

two-trees-5-fps

I've included a bonus render first-person perspective, just for fun. Since I haven't filled the whole scene much yet, there isn't a ton to see, but it will (hopefully) get wilder as I continue to work on the scene!

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Here's a small update to my lighting test scene in Blender.

I'm also using this post to test the social media publishing functions on my blog, so if you came here from Facebook, Twitter, or Google+, then I guess it worked!

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Fixing some image links

Martin · 9 years

I'm not sure how or why a lot of the links in my Xbox One themes post got broken, but I've updated that page, and all of the links should be working properly again. Additionally, I added a bunch more backgrounds to the list, and I will continue adding more as I make them.

2015 has been quite a busy year for me so far, and I'm glad I have a place to share all the cool things that I've been working on here. Be sure to keep checking the home/work page for updates, as well as my Blender Sketchbook, which seem to be one of my most frequently updated spots these days. Thanks for reading!

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I created this image as kind of a test to see if I could replicate the lighting and atmospheric look of some of the levels on Mario Kart 8 - which I don't own and have never played, but which I nevertheless find to be utterly beautiful. I think it's pretty close, but I'd probably have to make some really fantastical landscapes to see how it really compares. Perhaps a future update?

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Abstract Landscapes

Martin · 9 years

After reading through a post by a fellow Blender artist, I decided I'd try my hand at making some abstract landscapes in a similar style. I used similar texture images sourced from Bing's image search for cauliflower, cauliflower fractal, and pomegranates. These images weren't terribly difficult to make, but it was enjoyable and educational, nonetheless. I'll be making more of these in the future, I think. It's fun to see what sorts of alien landscapes images can create when you use them to generate particles and geometry displacement.

Maybe someone out there might like to use them for their desktop wallpaper!

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