Code Hashashin

late shopper

2008-12-19T23:10:00.003-05:00

Far Cry 2, Ubisoft Montreal (10/21/2008)

The crossbow is available for the 'Fortunes Pack,' now available on Xbox Live and Playstation Network. Watch a post-live demonstration of one of the three exclusive weapons.

I know some of you are already tired waking early, finding the best deals; shopping for holiday gifts. We're here now, weeks after you probably should have gone out and bought presents. It's o.k. I thought I might make it a little easier by providing you with some recommendations for this holiday season. Here are my top things that I recommend for your budding gamer pals. Guess what? The first 3 are now 10-20% off at your local online retailer.

Prince of Persia (available for the PS3, Xbox 360, and P.C.)

'Since the beginning of time, legend has told of an epic battle between darkness and light. But now the darkness spreads and an unknown warrior will rise. With a deadly new ally -- to save a kingdom and restore the light.'

Far Cry 2 (available for the PS3, Xbox 360, and P.C.)

'Play it your way. Find, hunt, and kill a dangerous arms dealer in an engrossing storyline that plays over more than 50 hours. Open world gameplay gives you total freedom to play the game you want in a world totally without limits.'

Endwar (available for the PS3, Xbox 360, and P.C.)

'In 2020, the United States is on the verge of finishing construction on the Freedom Star, a controversial orbital military platform that will upset the balance of world power. The European Federation withdraws from NATO in protest. Tensions between the European Federation, the United States, and Russia are building and will soon reach the breaking point. The EndWar is about to begin.'

scimitar engine ++

2008-12-17T07:37:00.008-05:00

Far Cry 2, Ubisoft Montreal (10/21/2008)

Using what I've learned from defensive driving in 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,' I attempt to take out a target of opportunity. How does it end? Play the video to find out.

Engines have been used throughout the history of gaming. By definition, an engine is 'anything used to effect a purpose; any device or contrivance; an agent' (Shakespeare). That age old definition still applies to game development. In this entry, I will discuss a more specific engine, Scimitar, and how it was used in 'Assassin's Creed,' and more recently, 'Prince of Persia.' I'll attempt to be less technical than usual as to appeal to the general viewer and as not to impart too much information.

Game Specific Engine

Back then, in the earlier days of the gaming industry -- when most companies were independent, and a team consisted of only a handful -- engines were often developed for a new game and then modified or reused in the next incarnation. In the past few years, you will find some developers creating an engine specific to a game itself. This poses the problem that a game's development time is dependent on the progress of the engine itself. This is an inefficient way of spending resources and time that would otherwise go into game specific content, for example.

The best way of creating an engine is with flexibility in mind, to make it open-ended and have various venues for expansion. Scimitar closely matched the general idea of the project, 'Assassin's Creed,' that 'nothing is true; everything is permitted.' From a programmer's standpoint, truth is merely the two boolean values of 0 and 1. And if taken from a metaphysical view, the function of not having a true value meant that it was infinite or undefined.

Scimitar

Scimitar is an engine that incorporates various tools, both internal libraries and external middleware for a streamlined experience. The game, 'Assassin's Creed,' has a library of tens of thousands of animations, a similar amount of dialogue and sounds, various menu interfaces. AutoDesk Maya's Human Inverse Kinematics middleware was used for collision detection and character interaction with the environment, mapping Altair's hands and feet to the surfaces. Image Metrics was used to sync and map an actor's mannerisms and incorporate that into the sequences you see in the game. Havok was used to simulate physics, giving weight to the character's gaits, and controlled the direction of the collapsible objects and or people.

The engine itself had to be designed and optimized for multi-threading, which is a dominant feature in the next generation. The environment itself was created in 3dMax and the characters, with Pixologic's Z-Brush. The challenges that arise from creating an open ended game meant that you had to take in account that the player would be at any given moment at any time, interacting with the environment in various ways. This meant that rendering the environment and the non-playable characters had to be done dynamically based on the character's immediate area and general position.

AI

Artificial Intelligence has always been very important in the way players interact with the in-game environment. As much as 150 unique characters can be populated on screen. This is possible due to assigning random values to the character's body type, shape, gender, and apparel. No two characters should ever be exactly the same. Not only that, but they all seem to be doing their own thing. There were a combination of methods, such as path finding, animation, animation prediction, object detection, and inverse kinematics to make the N.P.C.'s come to life.

Challenges

With the horsepower that we have available for the next generation, it is very easy to come up with ideas that might be too taxing for the hardware. Sure, a game can look great and have extravagant effects, but will it look smooth? Will it play without a hitch? These are some of the things to think about when designing an engine. Memory is also a constraint, even though there is considerably more than we had 10 years ago, there will always be a way to fill that up to capacity. As we delve deeper into the next generation, worlds are slowly migrating away from linearity, meaning we have to think atleast 10 steps ahead and take into account the worse case scenarios -- that way the game is better equipped to handle these discrepancies.

setting up your sound

2008-12-15T10:10:00.014-05:00

Far Cry 2, Ubisoft Montreal (09/02/2008)

My usual procedure for acquiring a 'Safe House.' With auto-aim turned off, it provided a good opportunity for me to show some sniping skills.

Hi! Jolie here with another guide of sorts dealing with common broadcasting questions; this time, I'll talk a little bit about how to set up your audio for live broadcasting at Justin(TV). By the time you finish reading this, you're well on your way to adding a whole new level of interaction that should come with live video casting. I've also included a software alternative to those who don't want to deal with physical Mixers.

Capture Card Sound

So you've hooked up all the analog cables to your capture card; the red and white R.C.A. cables are in the right place, but you're wondering why there's no sound. The problem is that you have your capture card registering as a peripheral audio device on Windows (assuming that you have Vista -- but on Windows XP, your device may register as a recording device). A peripheral audio device is another way of saying that it requires proprietary software to manage or access the sound; the software bundled with your capture device. This doesn't necessarily make it cast friendly.

So how would you remedy this? As I've mentioned in my previous entry on my setup, you will need to plug the sound directly into the sound port of your sound card in the back of your computer -- or if you have a laptop, in the Microphone | Line-in Jack. This means getting a Female RCA to 3.5Mm Male dongle. In other words, instead of putting the Red & White stereo outputs into the capture card, you plug them into the dongle and the dongle is connected straight into the P.C. I recommend the dongle instead of the adapter since you may need the extra cord length.

note: your capture card's sound input may be supported by some casting programs and you may only need to un-mute your sound device. To do a simple check, click the 'Broadcast,' button on Justin(TV) in the upper right corner, go into 'Settings,' and then see if the name of your Capture Card is under the 'Microphone | Audio' pull down tab. If it's there, then you only need to un-mute your device. Due to the variations of operating systems and hardware setups, I've provided some generic adjustments for Windows XP & Vista.

Windows XP

To do this in Windows XP, right click the sound icon, choose 'Adjust Audio Properties.' Under 'Device Volume,' click on 'Advanced.' Find your capture card audio device and make sure to un-tick 'Mute.'

Vista

Right click the sound icon, go to 'Playback Devices,' and double-click on the device that has a green check mark on it. Go to the 'Levels' tab, find your capture device's name and make sure that the speaker icon doesn't have a red cancellation sign.

In case your device isn't found there, you'll need to go to the 'Recording Devices,' tab and look for your specific card. And again, look to see if your device is muted.

Enabling StereoMix

StereoMix is a software based analog mixer that allows you to combine your multiple recording devices or sound inputs into a combined sound. You could listen to your 'Ipod,' and do a voiceover with your Microphone or you could play a game and provide a commentary. It was a popular feature that came with the Windows XP operating system that enabled professionals and enthusiasts alike to record their own content without having to purchase extra recording hardware. However, it is at most times disabled or hidden in Vista.

Note that you don't need to enable Stereo Mix if you're planning to only broadcast game sound. Just select your default recording device as 'Line-in' by right clicking the sound icon and choosing 'Recording Devices,' then right-clicking 'Line-in,' and 'Set as Default Device.' However, I find Stereo Mix an easier way to change various sound levels on the go without turning off the cast.

Enabling Stereo Mix in Vista

If you're fortunate enough to have a soundcard or onboard audio device that came with your computer which utilizes StereoMix, you only need to enable it. Simply right click the sound icon, go into 'Recording Devices.' Right-click within the white space and choose 'Show All Disabled Devices.' Either 'StereoMix' will appear muted, or it won't -- or if you're lucky, your capture device's name will show up. If it does show, you only need to un-mute it.

If It Doesn't

Prepare for some craziness. In the likely event that your computer doesn't recover, I've decided to leave out modifying your registry files. Registry files are an index or way of telling your computer how the software will manage its hardware; anything from where the hardware is located, to the software settings. It's dangerous to alter, so I've provided an alternate solution.

Installing XP Drivers for your Sound Device

At the manufacturer's website, you'll usually find several versions of the drivers that came with your particular computer in a driver support disc. Refer to the documentation that came with your computer to find out the exact model of your P.C. What you want to look for is the XP Audio Drivers. Why Windows XP? As I mentioned earlier, this particular operating system has wide support for 'StereoMix.'

In case your driver doesn't install because of a prompt saying that the software you're installing is incompatible with this version of windows, don't worry. You only need to right-click the driver, select 'Properties,' go to 'Compatibility,' and then check 'Run this program in compatiblity mode for:' and the first option should be 'Windows XP (Service Pack 2).' You may want to check off under 'Privelege level,' as 'Run this program as an administrator.' After you're done installing your drivers, check for 'StereoMix,' under 'Recording Devices.'

Setting Your Sound Levels

And that's pretty much it, with 'StereoMix,' you'll not only be able to broadcast your gaming sound (Line-in), but also your voice (Mic-In), or whatever is playing on your computer (PC Speakers). All you need to do now is to set your sound at a comfortable level. Not too loud that you'd deafen your incoming viewers, yet not too low that it takes super hearing to discern sounds.

Headphones

I recommend using headphones instead of playing through the speakers, because you may want to speak to your viewers. Some casters use the microphone to pick up the game sound, which at most times drown out the voice and/or the game sound. You should use direct sound inputs to ensure clear signals. There are headsets available that allow you to hear the input sounds from your computer, while at the same time have a microphone boom to speak in. At the moment, you can only broadcast in analog stereo or mono (single channel), so having a regular stereo headset won't be too bad.

Enable Mic Boost

If you're soft spoken or just want to speak at a comfortable level without putting too much strain on the voice, you should enable 'Mic Boost' and adjust the slide accordingly. To enable that feature, head into 'Recording Devices,' by right clicking the sound icon. The adjustments vary depending on the sound device you have installed. I recommend getting a noise cancellation headset that filters outside sound like your computer fans for instance, so that you can produce a high clarity sound for your voice.

My Settings

After casting for a few months, I've come to realize that I have a pretty developed sense of hearing; and because of that, my cast is usually on the low volume side. To remedy this, I plugged a headset directly into the headset port of my T.V. and adjusted the volume on my end, while the casting computer was a notch or two louder.

Stereo Mix: 5%
Line In: 60%
PC Speakers: 60%
Microphone: 75% w/ Mic Boost Enabled

note: If you have buzzing sounds on your broadcast, you might be putting the default input device too high (the primary device that you're broadcasting). What's happening is that you're attempting to amplify the sound beyond its audible range and that is why you're hearing noise.

By the way, I wrote this haphazardly during my break, so you may see grammar and spelling errors or whatever else that can literally go wrong with blogging -- so you probably have more questions for me. If you'd like to, send me an e-mail below and I'll do my best to assist you.

personal log 0

2008-12-12T09:21:00.018-05:00

Prince of Persia, Ubisoft Montreal (12/04/2008)

I seem to have good timing with blending music. It must be all the singing I do. 'Breath Me,' by Sia plays as I install 'Prince of Persia,' for the Playstation 3. The installation is not normally supposed to take this long.

I'm not too sure how this will play out, but I hope you'll enjoy this new feature. I will be updating this entry as I go about my day, almost like a twitter of sorts. Or if you're into 'Star Trek,' it's like a supplemental captain's log. Since this is primarily a blog about game development, I won't do these kinds of posts often. So let's get started.

12. December. 2008.

03:58 - Lurking on Justin(TV) as always, looking for other gamers such as myself in the dead of night; the sleepless, the reinvigorated, and the challenged. I'm wondering about what to blog. I have an idea for an associative writing type post where I just write the first thing that comes to thought. I wonder how that will work.

04:57 - Installation of one of my two copies of 'Prince of Persia' almost complete. I happen to be on Justin(TV), and 20 viewers almost instantly scurry to see what I'm up to. It maybe my music selection choice, I have no idea. 'Breath Me,' by Sia plays harmoniously in the background as the install takes place. 'Projectleet,' points out that my install is taking twice as long. Sia's song ends in sync with the download, upon our loading screen.

05:24 - I explain to my viewers what engine we used for 'Assassin's Creed.' The 'Scimitar' engine makes a reappearance as 'Scimitar++,' as the in game world of 'Prince of Persia,' uses an ingredient based delivery system. The architecture of levels, objects, and people have a type of interactivity that is strung together by a library of tens of thousands of animations. Because each component is dependent on your orientation or general position, the approach and end result of your interaction within the game and its' objects or characters is contextually based.

05:57 - Still talking about engine design and complaining about cast quality. Gareth shuffles around in the bed while I play the game near him. The children are awake five minutes later, and I notice that my hair is disheveled. It's almost time to go, and I'm handling the usual casting interview at Justin(TV), answering questions about the gaming industry. The cast ends at 06:14 as I spill my cereal on the laptop. I top off at 43 viewers.

07:34 - I've arrived at my work station thirty minutes prior. I grab a muffin and a water bottle, and prepare myself to code until lunch at 12:00. The on goings of the office ends from the last strike of this key.

13:04 - If you haven't already, our 'Far Cry 2' Fortune Pack (Add-On Content) just hit P.S.N. and X.B.L. Ramp up the terror with the 'Far Cry 2' Fortunes Pack. Loaded with 3 new weapons, 2 new vehicles and 4 new multiplayer maps. Enjoy!

18:38 - Dinner with the family. The kids are getting so big. I retire to the study, full, and read 'Twilight,' before I doze off in the massage chair.

22:04 - I've been passed out, haven't moved an inch, and an imprint of my body is left on the leather. It feels good to finally sleep. However, more work related things to go over. I end up texting a co-worker on the 'Blackberry.' Tomorrow is a new day.

far cry 2

2008-12-11T06:44:00.009-05:00

Far Cry 2, Ubisoft Montreal (09/02/2008)

Yes, sometimes I get a little zany. It's the middle of the night, and birdwatching is on my mind. However, my binoculars are nowhere to be found. Luckily I have an R.P.G. with a scope. Ooh, maybe it's a good time to demonstrate the wild life interactivity with Dunia. First shot, yay, the birds veered away. Second shot, it's up, it's up, and it's down. Uh oh, time to run!

You may have already heard of a little game called, 'Far Cry 2' -- alright, maybe not so little. In case you're not familiar with the game, you play as a man caught in between two rival factions led by ruthless warlords. They both have a mutual arms supplier named the 'Jackal,' a very dangerous man whose only concern is to profit from his selling of weapons.

The world is set in the rough terrain of Africa, and the peril of the place matches the grueling task set before you; to take out the 'Jackal.' 'Far Cry 2' is a large step out of the usual First Person Shooter genre for several reasons, but there is only one I'll discuss today. I wanted to shed some light about the proprietary engine that we developed. It is the very thing that gives the in-game world of 'Far Cry 2' a personality of its own. Albeit the many characters you encounter in the game, the one that stands out most is the environment.

the Dunia Engine

'Far Cry 2,' has been in development for 3 1/2 years -- the bulk of which was spent on designing a dynamic engine that is fully realized and optimized for multi-core processors. Over 175 staff, and several thousand hours were spent on creating Dunia, a word that means 'Earth,' when translated from several languages. Why name it Dunia? You'll soon discover as I tell you of its features.

Fire

Everyone likes a fire, but a wise man once said that to understand the flame and to master the flame is what makes us different from other mammals. With Dunia, fire does not only burn, but it scorches and propagates whatever it gets in contact with. It's a dynamic entity that behaves on several dependent factors: humidity, wind direction, and material.

Although not as unpredictable as the real thing, we believe it's pretty darn close. Even when starting fire is not enough, scorched debris can also start fires, large explosions, and -- you get the idea. The smoke also behaves dynamically depending on the intensity of the fire as well as how much wind is exerting on it.

Vegetation

It's always 'greener on the other side,' when playing 'Far Cry 2.' Chop something near you, wait a while, and then you'll see it grow back in real-time. Time hasn't always been so relative in videogames, but it is only now that we have the technology to immerse you with a sense of time. So please don't feel guilty if you've suddenly cleared an area with a brush fire. It'll just grow right back.

Realtime Weather Effects

tip: This works well in survival situations where you may not always have a watch around. Hold your hand or 'character' hand to the direction of the sun and count how many hand measurements it takes from the sun to the horizon. Each hand count is about 1 1/2 hours of daylight.

Africa is one of those places that have varying weather conditions depending on where you are. There are torrential rains and floods one moment, then a searing and dry sun baking moment the next. You may face gale force winds, or a pleasant moon lit sky. The roads, vegetation, and general environment all respond to this dynamic weather delivery system. Be prepared to muck it out if you're without transportation, or just enjoy the scenery.

And trust me, you will be mucking around in Africa. Dust, mud, and debris will accumulate on vehicles, weapons, and even on yourself. This all happens in real time and you are finding yourself, in more ways than one, switching equipment. Weapons do fall apart in the heat of battle. You may want to check the reliability ratings of weaponry before purchasing them. A trusty AK-47 wouldn't be a bad idea to have in your arsenal (it hardly jams!).

Lighting

We have something called advanced indirect lighting. If you're familiar with the game, 'Haze,' you may have heard of a process called radial luminosity filtering. It is a similar process to that effect where a light source sometimes refracts light differently on varying surfaces. That gives the effect of depth to objects while defining shadows at the same time. This way is more efficient than ray tracing, where multiple points are mapped for its reference.

Adaptive Action Ambiance

This is a dynamic content delivery system that assesses your situation, and then throws at you different things depending on where you are and what you're doing. Stay in a quiet place for a while and you may hear crickets. Start running or emptying clips and you may not only attract hostiles in your vicinity, but a jam packed tune to fit the mood. In a densely packed marsh full of over growth? Be prepared to hear and see animals that also have some level of interactivity.

This system doesn't only handle what you hear in any given situation, but it'll also keep you on your toes as you will be encountering random patrols and check point areas.

Destructive Deterioration

Need to blow something up? Don't worry, there are many ways to go about doing that in 'Far Cry 2.' It is not only encouraged, but it is essential for you to use the environment to your advantage especially when you progress further in the game. You may have several unexpected results, but that is where the beauty of this engine comes from. As to how much of the environment is destructable, it's more or less what you can see. And I believe that we've created a world big enough for you to experiment in.

These are some, if not most of the things that are handled by the engine. For more information or gameplay tips, please visit our official website at FarCry2.com. And if you haven't already, please try out 'Far Cry 2.' It's available for the P.C., Xbox 360, and the Playstation 3. Or you can see it live by visiting me at my channel on Justin(TV).

jtv casting setup

2008-12-10T06:47:00.015-05:00

Mirror's Edge, E.A. Dice (12/09/2008)

This jump took me forever to do, as I've only been able to do it once off the time trials mode. I know it may not be clear from the video, but I timed the jumps off the air units with slight tic jump from the top of the wall corner. It's the same method used on balance beam skipping, by jumping as soon as you land a hop.

Hey! This entry will discuss the exact setup and settings that I use to cast on Justin(TV). In case you've never heard of Justin, it's a live video sharing service that's available in 9 countries and in 7 different languages. It connects people from all different walks of life, anywhere from the struggling artist to video game developers like yours truly. Did I mention that it's free? Start broadcasting and being part of a large community now by signing up at justin.tv . If you're wondering what the requirements to do live broadcasting are, I'll discuss a moderately simple set up that I use.

My Computer

Often called 'the beast,' it's a rightly deserved name, weighing at 27 lbs. with all of its components. 'The beast,' however is a great gaming P.C. as well as a good broadcasting P.C. Any computer with a dual core that's clocked at atleast 2.0Ghz and contains 3Gb of R.a.M. would do well.

A.M.D. Phenom 9550 (2.6GHz running at 3.6Ghz)
8Gb DDR 3 R.a.M.
3 Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX (in SLi mode)
Avermedia M.C.E. A180 (Whitebox) && Hauppauge HVR 950T HDTv Usb Tuner

My T.V.

My television is a Samsung HL-S5087W 50" 1080p DLP HDTV. This T.V. is great for broadcasting because it has a 'Monitor Out' connection in the back that allows you to connect it to an outside source like an amplifier or in our case, a capture card. In other words, it has the Yellow, White, and Red connections that you can connect to the Avermedia.

Subsequently, the problem now is that you cannot convert a High Definition signal to a Standard Definition signal on the fly, forcing you to play in Standard Definition; the only format your capture device would take. In other words, playing in H.D. would render your 'Monitor Out' as an irregular signal since it uses basic composite outputs (RCA Yellow, Red, White).

Most broadcasters tell you that sacrifices have to be made in order to cast, but I think we've grown accustomed to being High Definition nuts and we may just have to get a device that converts H.D. signals. In case you're fine with Standard Definition, you could use the monitor out on your Television and then change the settings to play in regular S.D.

Phase-Shifting Device

No, this has nothing to do with Star Wars. A phase shifting device is like a V.C.R., or if that's before your time -- it's like a TiVO or digital recorder. The one that I use is the Hava Platinum HD. It takes output from your HDTv and then converts your signal into Standard Definition. In essence what you're trying to do is play in HD, but cast in SD. This device allows you to do that by doing the conversion for you. Note that since it's a phase shift device, you're going to see video on your broadcast at a delayed rate, which is normal.

The Set-up

So you have your T.V., and you have your own version of a 'beast' with the capture device, now it's time to set up the cables. Looking at all the wires may have you thinking it's a daunting task, but just take a deep breath and take note of where things would go. Chances are that if you were able to plug in your gaming console, then you'll have no problem plugging in your casting setup. Since the Hava is an optional device to use, and Justin(TV) is optimized for SD broadcasting, I'm going to leave the HD gaming / SD casting setup for another entry.

Hook up your game system to your T.V. (or I'll assume you already have it set up).
Use an Analog Female (for audio) to RCA 3.5Mm Male dongle and connect the Red & White to the corresponding audio output of your T.V. Then connect the 3.5Mm to the line-in of your P.C. (usually light blue or if you don't have blue, then pink)
Use a Yellow Composite Video cable or an S-Video cable and connect that to the corresponding video output of your T.V. Connect the other end to your Avermedia capture card.

That's pretty much it in regards to the setup! Easy wasn't it? As far as the locations of your devices, it would be best if everything was in close proximity to one another. The HDTV that I have is hooked to my P.C. (since I use it as a media center, they stay close together). And my laptop is wireless and is always at my side for easy access to my adoring viewers.

Casting Programs

There are various programs to use that work wonderfully with live casting. There are free programs and ones that have a trial period displaying a logo until you purchase them. I'll discuss the programs that I use, which is more or less streamlined for the kind of setup that I have. My CPU usage never falls above 20%, but the quality is sometimes dependent on the time of day or network usage.

Flash Media Encoder

This is a great program that you can tweak settings to your hearts content for an optimal broadcast. It's free and available at Adobe.com, and you only need to sign an account with them to gain access. As of this date and time of this writing, the current version is 2.5. These are my exact settings.

capture device: WebCamMax Capture
frame rate: 24.00
size: 320 x 240
audio device: Stereo Mix (sound integrated) | 44100Khz | Stereo 128Kb/s
format: VP6 | Lower Quality - Best Framerate | 256Kb/s

note: the human eye can discern images at 24 f.p.s. at an average. That value changes depending on several factors, such as stress level or heightened alert levels, but for full-motion video and just overall live casting, 24 f.p.s. is optimal.

Stereo Mix may not be enabled for your particular computer. It depends on the Operating System. What it is, is a software solution to those who don't want to get a physical sound mixer. It performs just like a mixer that mixes the analog recorder devices that you have on your computer (Mic, Line-in, PC Speakers) and sends them out through the Stereo Mix channel. I've supplied a google search engine for you so that you may discover how to enable Stereo Mix for your particular computer.

Custom Search

WebCamMax Capture

WebCamMax is a fun little program that has unique features. It's primarily for those who use live webcams and conference chatrooms, but it's an awesome program that allows you to change the frame rate and resolution of your cast as well as add flashy effects such as the timer you often see when I do speed runs. My setup matches F.M.E.

Under Tools > Options > Source you choose the resolution 320x240, and at 24fps. Under the Sources tab, I have Vladimir Hmelyoff's Multi-Cam.

V.H. Multi-Cam

A great program to streamline various sources, such as a Webcam, video or any other capture device. A simple right-click allows you to access never before seen options for your capture device, such as framerate and compression method.

Click 'Add Source' > 'Avermedia A180' and then left-click and drag the window to stretch it out on the available space. If you haven't messed with the resolution, it should be set at 320 x 240. Right-click the screen and choose options. You can now set up your capture device and its appropriate values such as brightness, contrast, and sharpness.

You may want to change the 'Capture Format' and match it with F.M.E. (24fps | 320 x 240). As for 'Color Space Compression,' you may choose RGB 24 if you're uploading at a speed greater than 256Kb/s. I use 'UYUY' since it closely matches the way we see as human beings in regards to chroma values. That format also uses less resources.

Optional Hardware

You may want to get a laptop to chat with viewers or monitor the quality of your broadcast. Most of the current browsers use a lot of resources that you will need for casting. If your computer is not up to date, you may want to use IRC; a stripped down yet functional alternative. It's a text based interface so that you can chat with your viewers.

And that's it! That's all that I do for my late night casting shenanigans. So just find a comfortable seat, pull up your laptop on a coffee table (in my case) and have fun interacting and playing live content for the unexpected audience.

a little bit about me

2008-03-24T08:38:00.022-04:00

Factoids

started programming at the age of 5.
father is a professor of History in Montreal.
mother is a bookstore owner in the east coast.
dog was named after a game character.
graduated as valedictorian in a specialized science highschool.
appeared on Extended Play, CNet T.V. and Call For Help.
favorite food is sushi.
favorite drink is green tea chai.
speaks 6 languages.
is a vegetarian.

Hi, my name is Jay Monret and I'm a game systems engineer for the gaming industry. Chances are that you came here to find out a little more about who I am and what I do, and so I'll try my best to deliver. I hope you enjoy my ramblings enough to join the industry or become interested enough to follow your passion into your future career.

Short Biography

My full name is Jolie Marie Monret, but family and friends call me Jay or Marie. I was born on January 16, 1982 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I'm half French Canadian, one-fourth Cherokee Indian, and one-fourth Irish. I currently live in Montreal with my husband, two kids and our nearly 2 year-old Lhapso Poodle, Altair.

I have a degree in Computers from McGill University, and a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from Columbia University.

My Job

I serve as the liaison of technologies with the hardware of gaming consoles and its software. As a game systems engineer, I have to familiarize myself and others with the new things that we are doing or discovering for the next generation. This means extensive and thorough knowledge of programming languages, and the ability to train and collaborate with others working on the games themselves. I also aid in the development of software and tools to streamline the process of making a working game.

The companies that create the hardware and their development teams work with us to ensure that our reading material and resources are updated with revisions. If someone needs assistance with any of the software or making software work with the hardware, it is also my job to explain how they work.

Throughout the course of developing a game, my job function also changes. Working closely with the producers and managers, I need to be able to provide them with quality assurance that work will be done on time.

I am also like other programmers who debug and crunch code, except that I specialize in optimization. Even though I do work like the others in the team, I'm not assigned to one particular project.