Article List

Faster, Faster, Faster - Games are real time applications. Real time applications are a special class of computer software where performance is unusually important. Optimisation is important and understanding how to optimise code effectively is an important skill when developing games and the technology that powers games.

International Support in Games - Games are international products. When we start working on a new game, we are expecting it to be released all over the world. Since all this is known before a single line of code has been written, why is it that so many game developers don't think about it at all, until after they ship?

Coding with Style - I have worked at several companies and about half of them made use of a coding style guide. Working in the half that used a style guide was far more pleasant.

Daily Build - Daily Build is done, and I am looking for Beta testers to make sure it is really done.

Daily Build - I am a firm believer that it is important to build every aspect of a product that is in the process of being developed, every single day. It quickly draws your attention to problems, such as missing files, broken source code and bad installers. Daily Build performs this task.

Send Email Tool - SendEmail is a handy command line tool that can be used to send e-mail message via SMTP or MAPI.

Scripting in Cipher - Cipher needed a scripting language so that developing game code could be as simple as possible, platform independent, secure and available to the mod community. This article explains the process I went through when trying to add this support.

Fun with Installers - Big and cumbersome commercial installer builders were getting me down, until I found a couple of tools that made life simple again.

CityDesk Initial Impressions - Find out about the tool I am trying to use to create and manage this web site.

Books - A few books (mostly technical) that I recommend most game developers read.

Why does everything have to be so complicated? - Have you ever noticed that most things are far more complicated than they need to be? Why?

Task Tracker - Are you looking for a tool to help you keep track of all your tasks and help you get better at estimating how long tasks will take? Task Tracker is the solution.

Email Rik - Want to get in touch with the author? This is the place.

Who are you? - Find out about Rik Heywood, the author of this web site and Cipher.