Game Development

> Some things to keep in mind:

Even though you can have multiple answers posted, please don't abuse this permission. Post your most relevant projects only.

M Davies

You shouldn't delete, you should comment it out so people can come along and laugh at your failed attempts. ;D

Lasse

I posted mine because people wanted to

Alex M.

rolf wanted to IIRC

Ali.S

@AlexM. I guess I'll delete my post after the contest ended.

it's only there to let people track my progress...

Alex M.

posts on the project highlights have to stay there until the highlights end

Ali.S

5:53 PM

ok, then I won't delete it :P

Alex M.

I can't remove your answers but please, keep in mind that math & algorithm problems are not projects

Ali.S

after all, I'm almost only working on that project, this week.

Alex M.

a project is meant to be useful to end users and perhaps be marketable in the end

even if it's a hobby project

Lasse

that is not in my opinion very good definition of a project

Alex M.

I guess I can live with that

just make sure nobody comes later posting his 3 line source code that calculated the Nth prime number for project euler as a project

because yeah, that's not a project

M Davies

5:55 PM

A project is something you work on with your heart and soul until you are dead inside.

Lasse

"Creating an AI for a slot car" is not a project in your opinion?

Ali.S

in my opinion project is something bigger than a problem, that you might work on more than a week...

Alex M.

@Lasse it's not something worthy of a project highlight

you can consider scribbling some runes with a stick on a piece of mud as a project too

Lasse

Why would any of those projects be then

Alex M.

the minecraft clone is good enough

it's relevant to users who might want to use it

it's big enough to track real progress on

M Davies

5:57 PM

Project - an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim.

Alex M.

it's also very interesting

M Davies

Good old google.

Lasse

the AI for the slot car is released publicly after the competition, so it's very useful for others too

Alex M.

I'm done talking about this since I can't do anything about it myself

but if I had the ability, your hello world open posts would be removed

because you abused of your permission to post multiple projects

Lasse

that is your opinion

Alex M.

5:58 PM

anything you talk about here is opinion based

Lasse

is it?

Alex M.

yes

I can't tell you why your project is irrelevant and make you believe it

M Davies

Really?

Alex M.

and you can't tell me why your project is relevant and make me believe it

Lasse

it's my opinion that the formula I gave for jovito to calculate point on a circle works?

Alex M.

5:59 PM

now you stopped making sense

M Davies

Facts can be talked about here. ;o

Lasse

1 min ago, by Alex M.

anything you talk about here is opinion based

You stopped making sense there

M Davies

Like Oculus Rift is owned by Facebook.

That is a fact. ;D

Alex M.

@Lasse about what should go in the highlights

Lasse

you didn't specify that

Alex M.

6:00 PM

@rolfl I hope you're happy

I thought you would stop after John told you what you thought would be good for our site was offtopic

you do more bad than good everytime you do something

and it's so frustrating :(

Lasse

I don't understand how that has anything to do with this discussion right now

Alex M.

he suggested you post it in the highlights

Almo

I don't see why the semantics of "project" are so important

Alex M.

the size and relevance is more important here

rolfl

@AlexM. What have I done?

Noctrine

6:03 PM

Yo

Alex M.

you suggested Lasse to post his algorithmic problem solution in the project highlights

Lasse

@AlexM. @rolfl start here

Noctrine

btw guys

Alex M.

am I the only one who thinks it's just not RIGHT for an ALGORITHM to show up near a minecraft clone and other similar sized projects?

Ali.S

@AlexM. IMO there is big difference between something being project, and a project being worthy of becoming highlight. AI competition is a project. but it might not be highlight

and by the way, AI is completely relevant to GD

Alex M.

6:05 PM

of course it's not, because once the AI competition ends, the only sane thing to do is to remove the post from meta

because you won't be updating it further

Noctrine

Blog - Stack Exchange: Announcing The Launch Of Meta Stack Exchange

Tim Post on April 17, 2014

We’re very pleased to announce that as of today, we’re (finally) splitting the site formerly known as Meta Stack Overflow into two sites:

Meta Stack Overflow is a brand-spanking new site for discussions specific to the Stack Overflow (programming) community:

Meta Stack Exchange will cover feature requests, bugs, and any discussion topics that affect the entire network:

Meta has always been one of the most important things that make our network… work. Almost all of our most important features, improvements, and community rules were partly or entirely based on our users telling us how we could help …

Lasse

@AlexM. it's not algorithm, it's AI made from series of algorithms

Alex M.

and that's not in the spirit of a project highlight

Lasse

just like any game

Alex M.

@Lasse thanks

@rolfl I went a bit overboard there with the frustrating bit

sorry about that

Ali.S

6:05 PM

@AlexM. any game project will end sometime too. after it's getting published

Alex M.

didn't mean it

@Ali.S yes but ideally it won't happen in a week

highlights are yearly contests

not weekly contests

Aidan Mueller

Finally done studying.

Noctrine

If the team keeps updating the one, and pruning irrelevant postings then I really don't see what the problem is with it. Though, compared to what else is up there it does seem a bit weird. But I'm not completely familiar with the contest.

Ali.S

@AlexM. I never thought of highlights as a contest. it's just a board telling people how dedicated we are to development and specially game development.

rolfl

@AlexM. storm in a teacup? /me back to lurking

Noctrine

6:09 PM

The preference was for on-going projects though. Maybe there need to be rules about pruning things that have gone away?

Ali.S

in the end of the year, only the most dedicated person with the best project is going to be offered an award, just for his hard work

Alex M.

@rolfl had some issues with the family today, it turns out I'm the bad guy again for asking for solid reasons before me doing something they want me to do

and I sort of dropped my anger on you

didn't mean it, again

> That's because at the end of the year, the most voted project will be declared the most popular and will receive a prize.

it's a contest in the end

Ali.S

giving it the title of contest is totally wrong.

Alex M.

@Noctrine yes, this

Ali.S

think of it this way: people make movies, but Oscar awards is not a contest, it's just announcing the best.

Alex M.

6:11 PM

you use so many words to say what is essentially

"I don't like your idea."

that's fine man, meta is community driven

edit my question if you want and remove the prize

I just think you have no real reason to do that

Noctrine

@Ali.S 1 part popularity contest, 1 part method to encourage things that wouldn't exactly be made if the industry just focused on money.

Alex M.

I didn't think of the highlights to be a spam board

Lasse

I didn't post my projects there to win the prize

Alex M.

I thought of it to be a place where the best project gets rewarded

Noctrine

I don't think the Hello World thing is spam.

Ali.S

6:13 PM

me niether

Alex M.

and where people can convince others that their projects are great

Noctrine

If they do great things, after coming together from this community, isn't that great?

Alex M.

didn't get that

user4704

I dunno.

user4704

I don't think the Hello World content things are particularly relevant.

Alex M.

6:15 PM

obviously

even if you drop the fact that they're so... localized (is this a good word here?)

Noctrine

Hmm.

user4704

They seem to fit a very borderline definition of "game."

Noctrine

I think the biggest thing would be

Alex M.

the projects you post are supposed to REPRESENT you as a developer

Noctrine

It's not exactly gamedev related, it's more like, playing a game with code.

Alex M.

6:16 PM

@Lasse does a basic AI implementation REPRESENT what you can do?

because to me it looks like college homework

user4704

Plus, the content page/site itself should act as promotion enough for those.

Alex M.

@Ali.S is that AI what YOU can do?

Lasse

If you think it's homework, you should try to compete and win the prize since it's so easy

Ali.S

well, I do implement AI better anything else.

user4704

I would rather see the project highlights topic used to show off and bring awareness of games people are working on

Alex M.

6:17 PM

@Lasse doing it is easy

winning is hard

Icy Defiance

it looks like what I wish college homework could be.
(mutters) stupid lowest common denominator stuff...

Almo

would I put the golf game I'm working on for BHVR?

Ali.S

I mean I'm not that much of a core graphics developer or gameplay developer. but I'm almost always easy with AI development

Almo

or should it be personal projectS?

Lasse

I'm in the AI contest trying to win

Alex M.

6:18 PM

@Ali.S but is that ALL you can do?

if someone opens up the highlights and sees you what would they say?

Ali.S

@AlexM. it's just like asking someone who posted a graphics engine, is the core graphics the only thing you can do?

Alex M.

"Oh, Ali.S, the guy who showed a participation at a contest near some guy's awesome Minecraft clone."

Lasse

our team were at one point the 27th in the world rankings, but now we aren't since we have been building new data structures to support our new features we have planned

Alex M.

have you made a diary?

that could turn out interesting

Lasse

I was planning to update the post on the highlights whenever we get something new done

Ali.S

6:20 PM

@AlexM. in the end, I do agree, it's not my best project, it's not highlight, and it doesn't show all my capabilities. But it's still a project, that I'm working on, and I'm pretty sure most of the users in this room can't get near the score I made today. And that only proves me as an AI deveoper

Lasse

but since the post is irrelevant, then I guess it's not interesting enough for you to see

Alex M.

@Lasse if you turn it into a diary, sure

Icy should post his progress on Project Euler too, it's the same thing

afaik he uses that site

but project euler it's not really gamedev related in the end

hello world open is borderline gamedev stuff

Lasse

race car AI is borderline gamedev for you?

Ali.S

@AlexM. I'm done talking, since you made that post, I've deleted my answer. but still I believe you are wrong,

Icy Defiance

I do use project euler, but I wouldn't consider that at all relevant to gamedev, even though I do consider hello world open to be tangentially relevant. how I see it, the question is how direct the relation should be.

I won't answer that question though

Lasse

6:23 PM

I deleted mine too, since it wasn't gamedev enough

Icy Defiance

I haven't decided myself

user4704

I have three objections to Hello World: first, it's not a game. Second, it's not a project of your own devising. Third, it's not yours, it's something many people are participating in, so we're going to get many posts on it, which is less than desirable.

Alex M.

deleted, good

just don't even tangentially think it's my fault you deleted it and we're fine

Lasse

I wonder if the minecraft clone isn't gamedev either, it's just using octrees and some for loops

Almo

DameGev.

user4704

6:24 PM

I would argue that a project needs to meet all three of those criteria to be considered an appropriate post there.

Alex M.

Josh makes sense here

perhaps we should edit that in as a rule

Noctrine

I don't think the "Not a Game" objection would completely fit, a Game Engine would be acceptable also wouldn't it?

Ali.S

@JoshPetrie which of those three is met by a gameengine?

Alex M.

though he is wrong in a tiny measure

@JoshPetrie gamedev related libraries are also accepted as projects

the project doesn't have to be a game

but it's best if it is

user4704

Yes, good point, I agree.

Icy Defiance

6:28 PM

can we define what "gamedev related" means in an objective way? I can't think of anything, but it would be nice if someone could.

Ali.S

@JoshPetrie with your definition of project I'm not entirely sure if game related libraries should be posted there either. even if we don't consider the first rule

Noctrine

Of or relating to the creation of games?

Alex M.

@IcyDefiance a library which provides post-processing effects

Ali.S

for example I'm writing a GameEngine, just because it's a homework.

user4704

@Ali.S I just said I agree that it should be "game or game engine / framework."

Alex M.

6:29 PM

a wrapper for PhysX

Ali.S

how many people in this room never get started their own engine?

Noctrine

Have never started?

Alex M.

@JoshPetrie should I edit in the rules or would you like to do it since they're your idea?

user4704

@AlexM. You can, it's your project.

Icy Defiance

@JoshPetrie then what about a well optimized particle engine? not arguing, just pressing the boundaries here, trying to figure out where they are.

Alex M.

6:31 PM

I'm getting spammed from wikispaces because our prof forced us to use it for assignments

Ali.S

and by engine I mean a framework which uses basic Opengl/DX function to load and render some shapes?

Alex M.

why profs even try to use technology is beyond me

they screw up every time

Lasse

The problem is that they try to use the wrong technologies

user4704

@IcyDefiance That's probably fine. I don't know. I don't think these "rules" form a concrete and specific set of acceptable projects.

Icy Defiance

@Ali.S I'm not sure how to parse this message. could you rephrase?

Alex M.

6:32 PM

@Lasse good point

Noctrine

And that's what voting is for in the end :D

user4704

I think it's just going to be a case-by-case thing, as this discussion was.

user4704

@Ali.S I don't understand what you are trying to say or where you are trying to take your argument.

Ali.S

@IcyDefiance ok, josh's their rule was that a project should be something unique that you (or a few people) are working on... and I'm arguing game libraries are not meeting that criteria

Icy Defiance

fair enough. I just like objective rules when possible. subjective ones work fine without many people involved, but they don't scale well.

Noctrine

6:33 PM

@Ali.S Although, I've done this. That's a narrow definition of engine.

Alex M.

I think we discussed this matter enough

Josh made the most relevant points

user4704

@Ali.S I didn't say "unique."

user4704

@IcyDefiance True, but this is a pretty informal / experimental thing.

Lasse

I was about to start yell about the word "unique" there too to defend my project

It's not really unique

and I acknowledge that

user4704

If I'm working on a game engine and you're working on a game engine, they are not the same game engine.

user4704

6:35 PM

If I am working on Hello World and you are working on Hello World, they are the same thing. That's what I object to.

Ali.S

@JoshPetrie they are both engines, dedicated to do same job

user4704

All games are games.

user4704

So by that logic we should only have one post.

Evan

The scale of such a project lends itself to dramatic differences

user4704

That's carrying it to an absurd degree.

user4704

6:36 PM

Game engines have different goals and features.

user4704

Further, I particularly object to the multiple-posts per project (that a content creates) from the standpoint that StackExchange is not your blog.

Alex M.

@Ali.S what the hell man

user4704

For example, I will unilaterally moderate any post that is edited frequently enough as to become somebody's own personal microblogging platform. Occasional large milestone edits are fine, but a substitute for Twitter this is not.

user4704

(That, however, is a separate issue that has not actually come up.)

M Davies

There should be something like that.

Somebody make a game development twitter website. ;D

Noctrine

6:39 PM

A lot of gamedev forums have topics specifically for dev diaries

Ali.S

@JoshPetrie so I guess mine craft clone, or flappy bird clone, and any other clone are not considered good project either?

Noctrine

Also, Geeklist and a few other services provide things like that. Then you know, Indie/ModDB - tigsource, et al