Knox Game Design

Knox Game Design

Knox Game Design is a monthly discussion by game creators in the Knoxville, Tennessee area. We share our ideas, show off projects, and discuss current topics related to video game development. Our group explores the many facets of the game design process, such as coding, graphics, modeling, animation, story, and promotion. You can find out more information on the group including future meeting dates at knoxgamedesign.org

Episodes

Special Weapons – Knox Game Design, September 2025

September 29, 2025 • 43 mins
Overview of ten special weapons for a 2D platformer game, along with demos in MonoGame with explanation of C# code. The weapons covered are normal (buster), eight way, freeze, wave, boomerang, tornado, charge, orbit shield, roller, exploder. Links and Notes Source code – https://github.com/levidsmith/KnoxGameDesign/tree/master/special_weapons Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster
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Gating – Knox Game Design, August 2025

August 26, 2025 • 19 mins
Examples of the various types of gates used in the design of games.   Links and Notes The Level Design Book – https://book.leveldesignbook.com/process/layout/typology/gates What Games Are – https://www.whatgamesare.com/gating.html Mapcore – https://www.mapcore.org/topic/20013-player-gating-in-level-design/ Gating in level design – https://shaunspalding.co.uk/gating-in-level-design/ Technical Game Design R...
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Pellet Eating Maze Game – Knox Game Design, July 2025

July 28, 2025 • 44 mins
Design and implementation steps for creating a pellet eating maze game in MonoGame with C#. Source code – https://github.com/levidsmith/KnoxGameDesign/tree/master/pellet_eating Links and Notes MonoGame – https://monogame.net/ Visual Studio – https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/ Ghost behaviors – https://pacman.fandom.com/wiki/Maze_Ghost_AI_Behaviors Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster
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Perspective Tool for Textures – Knox Game Design, June 2025

June 30, 2025 • 29 mins
Two demos for using the Gimp Perspective Tool to create textures from photos. The textures are then applied to a mesh in Blender which is exported into an FBX model. The model is then imported into Unity which can be used in a game. Links and Notes Gimp – https://www.gimp.org/ Blender – https://www.blender.org/ Unity – … Continue reading Perspective Tool for Textures – ...
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Screenshots – Knox Game Design, May 2025

May 26, 2025 • 14 mins
Explanation of three methods for capturing screenshots for your game. 1. Print Screen key 2. Snipping tool 3. OBS with VLC (VideoLAN). How to use Gimp to crop and scale a screenshot image to the desired size. Links and Notes Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) – https://obsproject.com/ VideoLAN, VLC media player – https://www.videolan.org/ Gimp (GNU Image … Continue reading Screenshots...
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Knox Game Jam 2025 – Knox Game Design, April 2025

April 28, 2025 • 35 mins
Five great games were created for Knox Game Jam 2025.  Thanks to everyone who attended the kickoff and created a game.  Great job everyone! Reality Breach by Jeffry Reality Breach is a browser-based bullet hell game with an alternate reality theme and cell-shaded graphics. Players take on the role of a “Reality Architect” who must … Continue reading Knox Game Jam 2025 – Knox ...
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Simulations – Knox Game Design, March 2025

March 29, 2025 • 23 mins
What is a simulation? Are simulations games? A look at simulations such as SimCity, Micropolis, and Conway’s Game of Life. Links and Notes Demo source code – https://github.com/levidsmith/KnoxGameDesign/blob/master/simulations/conway/conway.c Micropolis source code – https://github.com/SimHacker/micropolis MicropolisJS – https://www.graememcc.co.uk/micropolisJS/ LifeWiki (Conway’s Game of Life) –...
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Sockets – Knox Game Design, February 2025

February 24, 2025 • 18 mins
New Game Releasing this month Check out the new game Shrine of the Forest God by Dustin, which will be released on Steam on February 28, 2025. Monthly Presentation How to create a simple client and server socket connections in Python to send network data. Demo of how to use socket code to implement a … Continue reading Sockets – Knox Game Design, February 2025 Read more
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Drag and Drop – Knox Game Design, January 2025

January 29, 2025 • 30 mins
Explanation of how to implement drag and drop interface for games. Demos with source code include Unity (C#), MonoGame (C#), GameMaker (GML), and SDL (C). Links and Notes Demo source code – https://github.com/levidsmith/KnoxGameDesign/tree/master/draganddrop Unity – https://unity.com/ MonoGame – https://monogame.net/ GameMaker – https://gamemaker.io/en SDL – https://www.libsdl.org/ Podcast theme music ...
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Solitaire – Knox Game Design, December 2024

December 30, 2024 • 38 mins
Overview of steps to create a Solitaire game in Unity. Links and Notes Demo source code – https://github.com/levidsmith/KnoxGameDesign/tree/master/solitaire OpenGameArt card front sprites – https://opengameart.org/content/playing-cards-vector-png OpenGameArt card back sprite – https://opengameart.org/content/colorful-poker-card-back Unity – https://unity.com/ Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster
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Blender Normals – Knox Game Design, November 2024

November 28, 2024 • 8 mins
Explanation of mesh model face normals in Blender, which are imported into Unity. Steps to show normals in Blender and how to flip and recalculate normals. Links and Notes Demo project – https://github.com/levidsmith/KnoxGameDesign/tree/master/blender_normals Blender – https://www.blender.org/ Unity – https://unity.com/ Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster
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RPG Battle Damage – Knox Game Design, October 2024

October 16, 2024 • 25 mins
Analysis of how battle damage is calculated in role playing games (RPGs). How damage is calculated in traditional table top RPGs using dice rolls. Statistical analysis of outcomes of various dice combinations. Calculation of battle damage in the video game RPGs Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior) and Final Fantasy along with verification of damage outcomes. Links … Continue reading RPG Battle Damage...
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NFTs – Knox Game Design, September 2024

September 28, 2024 • 17 mins
Overview of how to use NFTs (non fungible tokens) in games, including how to mint tokens, specify trait values, and using OpenSea API to read NFT data into a game. Demo of Unity RPG game using NFTs for equippable weapons. Links and Notes Blockchain RPG demo – https://github.com/levidsmith/KnoxGameDesign/tree/master/blockchain/BlockchainRPG OpenSea API – https://docs.opensea.io/reference/api-overview Podcast theme music ...
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Blockchain for Game Development – Knox Game Design, August 2024

August 26, 2024 • 51 mins
Proof of concept demonstration on how to implement a blockchain to track game currency and purchase of game items.  In this demonstration, the blockchain is created in PHP on a Fedora Linux virtual machine running in Virtual Box.  The block chain is pulled into Unity through C# networking code.  Regular expressions are used to parse … Continue reading Blockchain for Game Development – Kn...
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Exploring NES Memory – Knox Game Design, July 2024

July 27, 2024 • 14 mins
Demonstration of how to use the FCEUX emulator memory tools to determine the memory location of in-game variables, such as number of coins. How to set a breakpoint with the Hex Editor to find the 6502 assembly code that is executed when a memory location is changed. Analysis of assembly code for awarding an extra … Continue reading Exploring NES Memory – Knox Game Design, July 2024
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Jumping – Knox Game Design, June 2024

June 29, 2024 • 34 mins
Comparison of jumping statistics from various characters in classic platformer games. Analysis of states in jump cycles. Demo of implementation of jump for a 2D platformer game. Links and Notes Demo Code – https://github.com/levidsmith/KnoxGameDesign/tree/master/jumping FCEUX – https://fceux.com/web/home.html Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster
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Flood Fill Recursion – Knox Game Design, May 2024

May 27, 2024 • 26 mins
Overview of recursion and an explanation of a simple flood fill algorithm. Example demo in MonoGame with C# code. Links and Notes Demo Code – https://github.com/levidsmith/KnoxGameDesign/tree/master/floodfill MonoGame – https://monogame.net/ Podcast theme music – Ride by Pocketmaster
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Knox Game Jam 2024 Recap – Knox Game Design, April 2024

April 29, 2024 • 21 mins
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Knox Game Jam 2024 kickoff!  Seven great games were created by the group for the game jam.  Great job everyone! Minu by Dustin Claws and Conundrums by James and PandaPuffsForBreakfast You are somewhat of a know-it-all. Your good friend has reached out for help in a murder … Continue reading Knox Game Jam 2024 Recap – Knox Game Design, April 2024
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UML with Dia – Knox Game Design, March 2024

March 30, 2024 • 34 mins
Overview of using the Dia tool for creating UML diagrams. UML is a standard for creating various types of diagrams, such as class diagrams, state diagrams, and use case diagrams. Links and Notes UML – https://www.uml.org/ UML examples – https://www.uml-diagrams.org/ Dia at Gnome – https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Dia Dia installer – http://dia-installer.de/ Podcast theme music – Ride by … Continue reading <...
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Texture Mapping – Knox Game Design, February 2024

February 28, 2024 • 31 mins
Explanation of how to create a texture mapped box by reading a BMP image file and displaying with OpenGL.  Then how to create that same texture mapped the box in Blender to export into FBX format.  The model is then imported and displayed multiple different game development environments, such as Unity, MonoGame, Godot, and Unreal … Continue reading Texture Mapping – Knox Game Design, Feb...
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