Graphics: Art is Key

I started reading The Art Of Game Design this week. I'm reading it because I want to understand a little more about why we create and play games before starting my next graphics POC. I figure the best way to really grasp graphics programming is to create playable games.

Inspired by the book I decided to make my Green Army Man POC more immersive by breaking out my best recording equipment and recording the actual sounds my soft air gun makes when it is loaded and fired. Adding these sounds into the POC, as well as adding realistic impact sounds really made a difference! I also took it one step further and added a visible gun. Thanks to TIGG I didn't have to model my own. His model was much better than I am currently capable of, so I didn't hesitate in using it.

I took a video of me messing around with the POC to give you an idea of current state.



Also, if you have a desire to play around with it yourself I am including the executable, as well as the artifacts and dependencies. You can download it here. You'll need a Windows OS. I am not currently capable of compiling for Linux or Mac. Also, you will need DirectX, if you don't already have it.

I just got some feedback that tutorials on OGRE, Bullet, OpenAL, and Blender would be useful to a few people. If you would also find this valuable, leave a comment! What subjects are most interesting to you?