Terry Nguyen

VS Code Language Support Notes

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 00:35:00 -0700

Note

This is an excerpt of my personal notes that I’ve cleaned up a little for documenting my non-gamedev work and for sharing with others. -Terry

Blubber Busters

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 19:32:29 -0700

Blubber Busters at Thar Be Monsters

Build Engineer (Contract) at Thar Be Monsters–2015

I was contracted as a Build Engineer, working on Blubber Busters, a run-and-gun 2D action platformer that pits players into the depths of space (or space whales).

My contract concluded in October ‘15, but the teaser below most accurately reflects the state of the game during my time with Thar Be Monsters.

Content Development at AIE

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 19:32:29 -0700

Content Development at AIE

In addition to creating supplemental content, part of my week is dedicated to prepping and developing course content for the whole institution (AIE Australia and AIE USA).

Subjects that I have updated or written are as follows:

Introduction to C++
Introduction to C# for Game Programming
Physics for Games
Maths for Games
Game Engine Scripting

Game Programming at AIE Seattle

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 19:32:29 -0700

Game Programming at AIE Seattle

I’m a faculty member working as a Game Programming Instructor at AIE Seattle. I help deliver a two year course training students to be ready to work in entry-level positions in games. Our work is joined by the Game Art and 3D Animation; and Game Design and Production departments.

I also work on the Content Development team, resolving errors in learning materials and writing entire subjects as necessary.

Sinasprite

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 19:32:29 -0700

Sinasprite

Interim Technical Director at Litesprite–2014-2015

I served as the Interim Technical Director for its flagship project, Sinasprite, a clinically-validated mental health mobile (video) game.

Available via Google Play Store and iOS App Store. Also available: Website.

Responsibilities

My responsibilities were as follows:

Undisclosed project

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 19:32:29 -0700

Undisclosed Project

Principal Programmer at Undisclosed studio–2020-2023

I worked for an undisclosed studio as its Principal Programmer. I was the sole engineer for the team and worked closely with its artists and designers. I also worked regularly with the producer to adjust timelines and plans based on the project’s progress.

My major contributions to the project:

Prototyping a dialogue system in Unity with integrations for animations and gameplay mechanics
- Later, porting to Ink with existing dialogue front-end
Managing a persistent 3D world with a day/night cycle
Designing and implementing a quest system with quest object lifecycle management
Creating a UI management layer for pushing/popping UI screens and panel
Supporting Bolt visual scripting graphs with designers (or reimplementing as needed in C#)
Triaging bugs and porting fixes between releases
Upgraded the project from Unity 2019.X to 2020.X
Prepare game demo during Steam Next Fest June 2022 Edition

The game was released on Steam release in September 2022. 🚀

Vextar

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 19:32:29 -0700

Vextar

Lead Programmer at Vextar Dev Team–2016-2019

I was the Lead Programmer for Vextar, a first-person multiplayer “disk-on-disk” action shooter game where players attempt to bounce each other out of the arena with projectile disks.

It was inspired by classic arena shooters like Ricochet, Quake, Doom, as well as Tron, of course.

Also available: Website, YouTube, and itch.io.

About Terry

Wed, 05 May 2021 20:18:29 -0700

About Terry

I’ve been working in games and education for almost 9 years since I started programming as a career. I’m currently a Game Programming Instructor at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment in Seattle, WA.

I’m happy to work closely with everyone on a team to work together better and create more engaging experiences overall.

You can find me online via [email protected]" aria-label="Email"> , , , , , , or !

Introduction to Git

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This was edited by Lizz Rizzo (@lizz0id) and written for the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, but was ultimately left unused.

Understanding how to use version control systems (VCS) to manage your work is a key skill of any developer, whether you’re a hobbyist or professional. It can serve as a way to track what changes in your project (especially if you’re working with other people).

Depending on what software you use as your version control system, it can give you backups of your work as well. Losing your project could mean losing months or years of work that can result in major setbacks.

AIE's Minor Production Process

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This was edited by Lizz Rizzo (@lizz0id) and published for the Academy of Interactive Entertainment on its website.

One of the most valuable parts of the course for our Game Development students is the opportunity to collaborate with their peers from other disciplines for their final project at the end of each school year.

Internally, those projects are referred to as “Minor Production” and “Major Production” respectively for our first year and second year game students. Every year, students fall prey to the same problems: communication issues, gaps in technical skill, unclear direction from faculty, or just interpersonal conflicts in general. This year’s changes continue the trend of improving the process, which in turn creates a stronger student experience.

Resolving Differences in Tool Paths

Sun, 19 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Synchronizing settings between my desktop, laptop, and studio workspace has been amazing for letting me constantly iterate on my development environment setup. I can make one change anywhere and use it to evolve my tools no matter where I’m working.

This is made possible by transferring information via GitHub Gists automatically with Shan Khan’s Settings Sync extension. Unfortunately, support for the use of environment variables in VS Code’s settings is but only a requested feature for now. This means that while my settings will synchronize, I’ll have to adjust the paths every time I download it on any workstation besides the one that uploaded it.

Visual Studio Code is My Favorite Text Editor

Sun, 04 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

For the longest time, I had always held that Visual Studio was the number one tool that I would recommend for development for the vast majority of use-cases. It was the first tool I used to program in C++ and C# and was also the very same tool that I missed when I started working with Python again. Lately, I’ve found myself asking whether I could be solving the same problems with VS Code. That’s been ringing pretty true as of late.

My Pull Request Etiquette

Sat, 13 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I’m pretty keen on the idea that amassing a collection of perspectives and experiences is part of the process of creating a better informed opinion or piece of work. It seems like, with the exception of UI/UX design, that the FOSS community benefits from this pretty well.

Part of that comes for free with a culture that is more conducive towards problems that are more readily approachable from an objective standpoint, though this can easily go awry without establishing a proper community culture in the first place. My first foray into creating something like this was pretty recent I decided that I’d take a hand at creating my own “awesome list” for UE4 since I hadn’t found a decent one out there during my travels.

Postmortem for Total Withdrawal

Fri, 12 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0000

During my last months at the Academy of Interactive of Entertainment, I worked as the Technical Director for two projects for our final production project, Total Withdrawal and Fae-Tal. We tried far too many things on both projects, and while this fared a bit better than the other, it still did not meet expectations.

Art Power

Pipeline

There was prior work with artists, but a solid pipeline had not been established. The artists were developing content in Maya and then shipping over a new FBX file with new materials. Integration was undertaken by the programming lead, which opted to drop it in as a new asset, and hook up the materials and textures again upon each iteration.

Working with P4Connect for Unity

Thu, 05 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

My classmates and I only total to around 20 people that need to touch the depot, but everyone’s distaste towards merging anything (even scripts, text files, you name it) and its inability to gracefully deal with large binaries pushed us away from Git and towards more centralized solutions like Apache SVN and Perforce. Apache SVN is completely free, but we opted to try out Perforce since they released P4Connect to let Unity Free users integrate Perforce with the editor. Perforce integration, which requires Unity Pro + Team License to enable. Integration isn’t entirely necessary since we managed without it when we used Git, but I liked the integration I had when working with UE4, so I put up Perforce as a potential alternative.

Triple Peaks @ #GGJ15 - A Post-Mortem

Thu, 29 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Three items to be found. Two keys to be pressed. One murderer to be unveil. With only a note in hand and nary a plan in mind, can you solve the mystery that has befallen this once peaceful playset? Crack the case and save the day: only in Triple Peaks. If only it were actually that exciting. Let’s break it down: what really happened during Global Game Jam 2015?

GoldQuest - AI Documentation

Sun, 04 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

For my second assessment at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, I was asked to write a description of the “proposed [AI] simulation” that I was going to undertake. In other words: what’s supposed to happen in my AI tech demo? I think what I’ll shoot for is shoot for one set of logic that will accept parameters for behavior determination.

The goal is simple: two players need to gather the largest amount of gold possible from various pools of gold that are scattered across the map. The player with the largest amount of gold by round end or gold mine exhaustion, whichever comes first. Each player will only be able to hold a certain amount of gold at any given time.

Starting Over With Jekyll

Wed, 26 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Today marks the relaunch of my new personal blog, powered by Jekyll! If everything is working, then this post should show up on the website for everyone to see!

I guess this is my version of WordPress’ welcome post!

Global Game Jam 2014 - I am H

Mon, 27 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

My first participation in Global Game Jam marks my second time working as in a team with the Unity engine. This time proved especially interesting since I got a chance to work with people roughly around my age that had experience and skills to work with. Until then, the majority of any group work had either been on school assignments for general studies or in teams with less than motivated or enthusiastic people.

Update for TF2 Mann vs. Machine Listen Server Script

Wed, 18 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I should have done this a few days ago, but other projects took precedence. In any case, I did a small overhaul of the listen server setup script for Team Fortress 2’s listen server mode that fixed some bugs and made things a bit more extensible. Poor scripting caused servers to restart between maps while other issues made it difficult to make use of, but hopefully those problems have been solved..

My Programming Blog Is Full of Lessons as I Expected

Mon, 11 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

After starting to commit to a more regular tweeting, blogging, and status updating life, I’m finding out more and more as to why I left behind the whole “Minecraft tutorial” life. Making things that I feel look clear and very easy to follow seems to take absolutely forever for me! I always hated watching YouTube videos where I couldn’t tell what was going or articles that couldn’t clearly direct a lowly newbie towards successfully completely whatever task I wanted to get done. I didn’t want to make the same problems either, but in trying to do so, I ran into so many issues! Here’s one of them; it’s fairly recent too.

iFEST - the Preparation

Fri, 08 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

iFEST isn’t quite ready to open to the public yet, but I volunteered to help exhibitors set up for today. Getting a peek at things behind the scenes was great as I got to meet some really neat people. All of the expensive gear from the Seattle VRcade guys made me really nervous though; their gear is incredibly expensive so handling their motion tracking cameras was scary, but manageable.

Other game exhibitors brought in presentation materials and of course, the actual games that are being shown, but I’m even more excited for the people who hadn’t shown up yet since there are some interesting names like MOGA, which makes phone controllers, that will also be showing up on the day of the event. I’ll have to cut this short since I don’t want to give away too much before the event takes place, but it’s definitely not something I want to miss out on. I’m glad I get to not only attend this year, but lend a hand in running it.

Screenshot an Entire Page in Firefox

Thu, 07 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I always wondered how people do this without an addon or plugin, and I finally know how! I’ll never remember it though, so here’s a blogpost on it.

Press “SHIFT” and “F2” buttons at the same time to bring up the developer console.
Type “screenshot –fullpage” into the box or “developer console”.
Press enter! It saves to your default Downloads folder. You can see the file path at the top.
"

Defend Da Taco Shack

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s my entry for the 0h Game Jam of 2013! You are a lone warrior of with a nice tan who must defend a taco shack from flying burritos! Use the spacebar to shoot and hope you have a slow computer because there’s no frame limit on this thing! I’m tired, so hit up the download for more information and the game itself.

Requirements

Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)

Monaco's Save File Location

Thu, 03 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re looking for Monaco’s save file so you can back it up, give it to a friend, or just upload it somewhere online, then you should probably stop looking for it in the “steamapps” folder. Make sure that you’ve backed up your old save file if you want it for some reason, and disable Steam Cloud if you’re planning on stuff in a new save file in its place.

TF2 - MvM Listen Server Script

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This script for Team Fortress simplifies the process of setting up and running an Mann vs. Machine listen server. It allows the server to run a config to prep the server for MvM, select an MvM map, and then change the difficulty at any given time during the game.

It was crafted with use among friends that don’t want to install Metamod:Source and Sourcemod but still want to have the ability to administrate and manage a listen server. Releases and source code are found at Github.

Release of Mann vs. Machine Server Script for Team Fortress 2

Sun, 29 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Today marks the official public release of a small script that I made to ease the pains in setting up a Mann vs. Machine match in Team Fortress 2 without going through Valve’s matchmaking process. I usually host local servers for things, and since the Mann vs. Machine interface doesn’t make such an accommodation, I took it into my own hands to give myself a painless way to do it. The script and relevant instructions are found in its Github repo, mvm-listenserver-script.

Stop the GameCom 377 from Snapping Apart

Wed, 14 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re the lucky owner of a Plantronics GameCom 377 or 367, you might have discovered that your headset is cracking somewhere along the headband. What’s worse is that you can’t even buy a new one in stores, so you’re stuck with buying one from eBay or Amazon if a replacement is what you’re in the market for. Fortunately, if it hasn’t completely snapped apart, despair not for there is still hope! They’re by no means perfect, but these “fixes” should keep your headset together for some time longer.

Replacing Steam's Message Notification Noise

Mon, 27 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

While Steam’s transition to a newer updater and launcher may bring us closer to a more stable Steam than ever before, it is not without its shortcomings. Users that replace their message notification noises are finding that their changes are being overwritten upon every launch of Steam. While Steam’s prudence in maintaining the consistency of the program files is indeed useful, it is also a pain for anyone looking to introduce custom content. While not a solution, I did make a workaround for myself.

Sharpening My C# Skills - Week 03 - AABB Collisions

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

For the third week of programming (which occurs once per week except when it’s cancelled), we went over AABB collisions. Basically, if the top of one object exceeds the bottom of another object and the side of the first object exceeds that of the second object, then the two objects are colliding. I’m sure I missed some sort of specific, but that’s the core of the concept. Even if we are learning how to programming in the dying XNA environment, the concepts will surely be transferable to future frontiers.

Write a Visual Novel - Entry 6 - New Ideas, Concepts, and Clones?!

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Let’s think in hypothetical terms. Let’s say that you have a clone who are at this very time. Let’s say that this clone, at the point of creation, was exactly the same as you were in both mind and body, but not place, because then we’d have two things occupying the same space, and who knows what would happen then. What would you do?

I’ve always dreamt of having a clone of myself that I could work together with. It’s not because I love or lust for myself excessively so, but if I could have a clone, then I could get twice the amount of work done in the same amount of time, provided that I could merge with my clone and merge our intelligence together into one, but we wouldn’t really have a conflict if we could hide ourselves with just a snap of the fingers.

Learning Maya - My First Steps - Day 1

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

It’s the start of a brand new semester, and with that, comes changes at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) in Seattle. With our two-dimensional group animation projects behind us, we can now proudly march forward towards learning how to work in three-dimensional space. I’ve picked up some things that are not only about my workflow in Maya, but also about other people’s workflows and how they learn the software.

Write a Visual Novel - Entry 5 - Starting Over

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

It’s been quite a while since I wrote my last entry. The last few have just been sitting on my netbook for weeks, so I figured I’d slowly offload them onto here. Since then, I’ve come up with quite a number of choice events and situations that the protagonist could get into, but I can’t help but feel as though that I’m lacking a plot or driving force. Though this project was first created in order to facilitate the learning of Python, I can’t help but feel as though that it can be difficult to find time for it while at the same time, I find myself thinking about it from time to time.

Write a Visual Novel - Entry 4 - Development Tools

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’s been rough around these parts as I’ve been beaten up by my classes. Homework threw the first punch, classwork threw the second, and projects came in with the finishing blow. Did I mention college applications? It’s been difficult to really spend any time on the visual novel project as of late. The plot hasn’t seen a new addition in weeks now, so this’ll be a short post.

I was spending some time on an IndieGaming subreddit when I came across some neat tools. Every four months, there’s an event called the Ludum Dare where people try to put together a game in 48 or 72 hours from start to finish, depending on whether you enter the competition or “jam” respectively. To help participants out, a page on the Ludum Dare website lists some popular and free development tools.

Write a Visual Novel - Entry 3 - Struggling With the Idea

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Early on in the project, I had assigned themes to everyone’s routes. For example, Character 1’s route was considered to be the rational and unworldly route, a path best suited towards those who did not have an incredible attachment to material things. On the other hand, Character 2’s route was the designated route for those who were more worldly or attached to material possessions.

Initially speaking, the idea that caused me to start developing this visual novel was that it revolved around materialism. Do you place too much value in the things you own? Is the matter that makes up the item much more valuable to you than the sentimental value you’ve attached to it? Are neither important at all?

Checking In: Python, Codeacademy, and Stories

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

It’s been quite some time since the last update, so let’s do a quick rundown of virtually everything that I’ve done! This’ll be a short post.

Python and Codecademy

In order to supplement the fact that the visual novel project has come to a grinding halt in recent weeks, I’m reviewing and picking up on additional things through lessons at Codecademy. I’m still sticking with the Ren’Py visual novel engine, so that isn’t changing. I’ve been flow charting the common route, and though having a point-based decision system sounds nice, I’ve concluded that a simple diverging route should be more than enough for me.

Write a Visual Novel - Day 2: Inspiration!

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Finding the inspiration to actually write something was arguably the hardest part for me as a writer. Back when I was young, naive, and ambitious (i.e. two years ago), I wanted to write a novel. It was November and NaNoWriMo had just begun. I had no plot, no plan, no clue, and no real desire to actually complete that thing. Completing an entire novel just wasn’t something feasible for me. Try as I would, each successive attempt would be equally met with self-depreciation and dissatisfaction.

Write a Visual Novel - Day 1: Why?

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Keeping in mind that this isn’t actually the first day that I’ve worked on the visual novel, I think it’s best if I bring everyone up to speed. The point of trying this self-designed programming exercise is to ease me into programming and learn something in my spare time. I have always wanted to design and build programs, but because of the fact that I get easily discouraged by a lack of results meant that I’ve never been able to do so. By gradually building up my knowledge, I will be better prepared in the future to take on programming classes and assignments as well as having fun in the process by designing a visual novel.

Resetting Windows 7's Volume Mixer

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

If an application has appears to have sound activity in your volume mixer but isn’t actually heard on the device it’s outputting to, maybe the mixer needs a good nudge. Here’s one thing you can try to get that sound to actually make it all the way to your ears.

What might’ve happened is that though the Volume Mixer might not reflect this, it is muting an application, which means it’ll never make it to your ears. If this is true, then toggling it in the mixer won’t make a bit of difference because it’s essentially stuck this way.

Using Entertainment to Unwind and Focus

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

It’s become very apparent to me in these past few years that after I spend a good deal of my time watching anime or playing a visual novel that I find myself rejuvenated and a lot less irritable. In addition to the previous two mental boosts, I feel as though I’m ready to get up and plow through a truckload of work. Though the important and possibly hard part may be actually plowing through it, it’s hard to get something done if you can’t even see yourself start it!

Gaming Mode vs. Working Mode

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I find myself making a distinction between gaming and working mode more and more often as of late. It’s not perfect, but it certainly is a nice crutch to have for the time being. I can actually work and play for satisfactory periods of time, though that doesn’t stop the two from spilling over into the other. Even my desk is a mish-mash of the two and switches to accommodate the fact that I both play and work in this space.

My Plans for August 2012

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

It’s August 1st, which means my month long summer vacation has come to a close. What does this mean?

Volunteering

All of my friends are heading back to class as juniors, seniors, and university freshmen. They won’t be around to play with me which means they won’t be up in arms when I say I want to work now, not play.

Writing Blog Posts

I’ve been writing in sporadically on this personal blog of mine. The main idea behind the inception of this blog was to give me something to reflect upon when I’m older. In additon to that, I could give others a personal point of reference as to how little I started when I was young. Wouldn’t it be incredible if I made this blog into something truly wonderful?

WhatPulse - Track Your Usage!

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

WhatPulse is a nifty little application that sits in your system tray or notification tray that keeps track of your mouse and keyboard. Statistics such as mouse movement distance, key press frequency, and total clicks and keys are recorded and publicly displayed on your WhatPulse profile. I should stress that this is in no way a keylogger and simply records statistics about your keyboard and mouse usage, nothing more.

Pros

WhatPulse is cross-platform and is available on Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux.

HWMonitor

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

HWMonitor is a great way to view an array of values from sensors from your computer components. Available as a standalone and portable application as well as an installable program, HWMonitor is lightweight and fairly user-friendly.

Pros

Very little setup is required to get this thing up and going; even less with the portable executable!

From the makers of CPU-ID, the best possible attempt is made to identify and provide names such as “AMD Radeon HD 5700” which is better than “GFX”. Paying customers can designate custom names.

Skype on Dexpot

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Skype is rather fickle when it comes to running alongside an installation of Dexpot. When you have more than one virtual desktop, it tends to refuse to launch on more than one virtual desktop. Though this isn’t exactly ideal, one way to workaround that issue is to force Dexpot to replicate it throughout all or certain virtual desktops.

Dexpot users who enable the Desktop Pager plugin will be able to right click on Skype in the pager and tell it to copy Skype to all or certain virtual desktops. Other users will be able to right click on Skype’s titlebar (i.e. the bar at the top of any window) and perform the same set of actions to copy Skype to individual or all virtual desktops. This also solves the problem regarding Skype and Dexpot when Skype stops functioning properly when opened in more than one virtual desktop.

Teracopy

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

For a while, I’ve been using CodeSector’s Teracopy to handle day to day file operations in place of Windows. It’s widely acclaimed to speed up file operations by optimizing buffer caches or something like that, but I’m fairly certain that mileage will very from person to person. Nonetheless, I find Teracopy to be very useful and recommend it to power users. It can also be installed for less than computer-inclined users who want something powerful yet easily usable, provided they don’t start messing with some of the deeper functions.

Media Keys and the Sidewinder X4

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

As far as I know, the latest drivers for the Microsoft Sidewinder X4 Keyboard only function with Windows Media Player. I use Nightingale to manage my music so it was either me or keyboard that was going to have to adapt. At first, I installed a plugin for “command-line” support so I could run bind the media keys to shortcuts with command-line switches, but that would always cause the program that I was currently in to lose focus. That wasn’t normally a problem unless I was in some sort of full-screen application, especially ones with 3D environments like Max Payne 3.

Looking Back on Soluto

Mon, 28 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Today, I’m going to try to give Soluto a try again. I picked it up when it had an appearance on Lifehacker, but I later dropped it because it began to be a hassle after some time to work with. It certainly seems like a nifty little tool that’ll allow the common end-user to make educated decisions, or in some cases, guesses, about their computer to speed it up by reducing the number of things it has to do.

Third Party and Attributions

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Third Party and Attributions

Food and a little bit of kitchenware

“Food and little bit of kitchenware” by VectorPixelStar is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Per the license, the modified version is distributed under the same terms and is accessible at the following link: favicon-src.svg.