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A blast-all-these-nerds game. The game was originally developed for the Amiga (see History below) and I freely adapted it to the BeOS, as a short coding joke for Paris' Be GeekFest, Feb'97 with the much needed help of Pulco and SpH. Now rewritten entirely from scratch for Windows .Net 1.1 and Managed DirectX, it includes the same cute little graphics as the BeOS version and the same vocal sound effects to provide countless hours of fun. In May 2004, I also ported the game to Pocket PC. More information on the Pocket PC section below. In March 2007, I also ported the game to Java 1.4 and Java 5. More information on the Java section below. |
Nerdkill is a simple game whose main purpose is to help you remove
stress and enjoy life better.
The game displays a bunch of little annoying moving nerds and a diverse collection
of weapons. Select a weapon and aim at one of those little nerds and enjoy --
that's all it takes :-)
Sure, it doesn't take much to amuse me -- what about you?
The game is implemented using C#,Windows
.Net 1.1 and Managed DirectX.
Sources are included in the binary package. The whole
thing uses an Open Source license.
Notes for the Windows desktop version (for Pocket PC, see below):
Start > All Programs > Windows Update
)
to install the latest versions.Politically correctness statement & warning:
Usage:
Goals & strategies:
Compatibility issues:
Nerdkill 1.0.0 BeOS was
released around 1997/1998.
I first saw Nerdkill on a roommate's Amiga 4000 back in '93 or '94 at the university.
The game was developed by
(http://girvnet.org.uk).
As an early BeOS adopter,
I wanted something fun to do and so I started writing a clone several years
later using whatever I had in mind that I saw back on the Amiga. The first version
was coded in little more than a night or two, right before the
Paris' Be GeekFest, Feb'97.
Two friends, Pulco
and SpH helped with the graphics and the sound "effects". At the time
I was able to run an original Nerdkill.lha on an Amiga emulator, but for no
more than a few seconds. We added a couple of improvements on the original version
and never tried to write a perfect clone -- just something fun to watch and
play. Later, we had some ideas about a 3D version and some improvements but
we never followed through -- also I believe it would have removed the simplicity
of the original version.
Several years later on another continent, I was in need of some C# coding practice. Once again Nerdkill was the ideal candidate. The game is simplistic enough in that it doesn't interfere with the coding practice and it's fun enough to allow completion of the project before my mind flies somewhere else ;-).
You can consult the extract terms of the license here: Nerdkill
License.
The Nerdkill is licensed under the GNU
General Public License, an Open
Source approved license.
I am not a lawyer and I find the complete text of the license generally obscure to read, so what it all means is:
In
early 2004, Code Project ran a coding
contest which goal was to write "something interesting" using
the .Net Compact Framework. That motivated me to do something I though was interesting:
explore the capabilities of .Net Compact Framework 1.1 to host a 100% managed
game; Nerdkill C# was the perfect choice.
Nerdkill C# had mostly been started as a way to explore the Direct X Managed API. I also experimented with a modular platform that would be easy to adapt to other games or other host implementations. Both these goals were met successfully.
Nerdkill Pocket was thus started with these two goals in mind: first examine how portable the modular platform was and what work it would involve to "port" it to the Pocket PC and second examine how capable .Net Compact Framework 1.1 really is. Could a 2D Sprite-based game really be written in 100% managed code?
The short answers are yes and almost yes.
If you're a developer, you may be interested in the detailed results as described
in the Code Project
Nerdkill Pocket article (mirror available
here.)
In June 2004, Nerdkill Pocket was awarded the "Best Use of Technology" by Code Project :-)
Download links are available in the Code Project Nerdkill Pocket article as well as in the download section below.
In March 2007, I ported the game to Java. This took only a handful of days, since the engine was initally designed to be easily portable. Converting C# to Java is also a mostly straighforward operation.
Download links are available in below. The best way to play Nerdkill Java is to simply use the Webstart link. This is an on-line installer that will seamlessly install Nerdkill Java on your computer and run it. This works out of the box on Windows and MacOS.
For Linux, if you have Java installed, you can download the JAR file and execute it from the command line.
Note that I may adapt the game to phone later using J2ME.
June 23, 2004 | Nerdkill Pocket is awarded the "Best Use of Technology" by Code Project. |
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May 27, 2004 | Version 1.0 of Nerdkill Pocket completed. GPL license. |
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May 22, 2004 | Version 1.1 of Nerdkill C# completed and ready to download. Uses the GNU General Public License. |
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December 17, 2003 |
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November 20, 2003 | Moved to new projects location. |
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November 7, 2003 | Version 1.0 of Nerdkill C# completed and ready to download. |
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November 3, 2003 | Created this web page to advertise and distribute the project. |
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September 22, 2003 | First real design & implementation in C#. |
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December 31, 2002 | Not much really -- just "Oh let's
use C# and DirectX". |
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September 1998 | Last official version of Nerdkill
1.0 for BeOS x86 & PPC. |
Nerdkill C# (Desktop) | Nerdkill Pocket (Pocket PC) | Nerdkill Java (Desktop)
Nerdill C# (desktop version) | |||||||||
Nerdkill C# |
Nerdkill C# Version 1.1 is the most recent stable & only revision. |
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[notes] |
[130 kB] |
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[notes] |
[2.5 MB] |
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[notes] |
[1 MB] |
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Important: .Net Framework 1.1 and DirectX 9 Managed are required to run this program! If you do not have .Net Framework 1.1 nor the DirectX 9 End-User Runtime,
download the latest version from the Microsoft
Windows Update. If you have DirectX 9, you must install DX9 Managed before running Nerdkill.
The installer (.msi) package can be found in the complete DX9 download;
it is included here for your convenience (this version may be obsolete): |
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mdxredist (DX9 Managed).msi | [notes] |
[1 MB] |
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Nerdkill C# |
Nerdkill C# Version 1.0 is the previous version. |
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Nerdkill Pocket (Pocket PC version) | |||||||||
Nerdkill Pocket |
Nerdkill Pocket Version 1.0 is the most recent stable & only revision. Available on Code
Project as well as here. |
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[notes] |
[406 kB] |
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[notes] |
[406 kB] |
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[notes] |
[406 kB] |
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[notes] |
[462 kB] |
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Important: .Net Compact Framework 1.1 is required to
run this program! |
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Instructions for CAB files: unzip the archive, copy the CAB file to your Pocket PC using ActiveSync and then execute it using the File Explorer. This will install .Net Compact Framework 1.1 as needed as well as the Nerdkill Pocket executable. Use the File Explorer to start Nerdkill (you can add a link to the Start Menu or the Program files if you want.) | |||||||||
Nerdkill Java | |||||||||
Nerdkill Java |
Nerdkill Java 1.0 is the most recent stable & only revision. |
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[notes] |
[907 kB] |
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[notes] |
[406 kB] |
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[notes] |
[406 kB] |
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If you want to run the game using a command line, download the JAR file then
type the following command in a terminal:
java -jar NerdkillJava001.jar |
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Nerdkill is developed and maintained by
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Alfray | Powerpulsar
| R'alf Home Page
Last Updated: March 17, 2007
Created: November 02, 2003