Game Development

do you c++ guys ever perform operations on pointers ... presumably it's a pretty useless thing other than as a means of navigation to get to the actual thing you need to perform your operation on

Almo

4:44 PM

one thing you get is if you do
    int func()
    {
        MyObject theObj;
    }

you get static allocation for theObj

no need to do new and call alloc right?

or something (I don't know all the terminology)

but if you need to pass that thing somewhere else and don't want to pass by copy, then you make it a pointer and eat the new

I find in my C++ code that I use a mix of pointers and objects depending on what I'm doing with them

Wardy

but if i do this in c# ...
var x = new object();
..then this ...
var y = x;
I now have my pointer to x in y

but actually I don't have to worry about dealing with pointers

I'm just handing the object around

but its not like that object is moving on the heap

"under the hood" for the purpose of the computer pointers are definitely useful but from a programming point of view I should never need a pointer only the object it points to

Almo

You can do that in c++ as well

sometimes you want to pass by reference, sometimes you want to pass by value

you can do that with pointers

the main difference is that in C# you get auto GC

SpartanDonut

And intuitive syntax

Almo

the

    [something]
    //code

is intuitive?

SpartanDonut

wat

Almo

4:53 PM

I don't find c#'s syntax particularly more intuitive than C++

SpartanDonut

We're specifically talking about pointers, not languages

AttackingHobo

@Almo I find so much stuff in c++ is unituitive

SpartanDonut

Kind of...

AttackingHobo

compared to c#

SpartanDonut

I mean pointers are a language feature but yeah

Having not done C++ in many years I can honestly say I don't know which is which when it comes to * and & and which side of the variable the symbol goes on

Almo

4:54 PM

:D

Wardy

c++ is a messy language IMO

SpartanDonut

Also not knowing if I can use . vs -> without looking at the variable definition or whatever is also unintuitive

Wardy

what's with the header files ?

SpartanDonut

lol

Almo

this is why some people do the pVarname thing for pointers, but that's weird

I dislike not having header files

AttackingHobo

4:56 PM

I hate header files

Wardy

why do they need to exist at all ?

Almo

I can't open up a C# class I've never seen and get a concise description of it

Wardy

I can

AttackingHobo

Errr most IDEs have tools that show you a list of all methods and stuff

Its something that shouldn't need to be done by the programmer

Feels like wasted time doing something that could have been done automatically

Also there are tools to generate docs using the comments above the methods

Almo

C#: partial classes

wtf

SpartanDonut

4:58 PM

lol

Almo

basically, you can find annoying things about languages and things you like about languages

SpartanDonut

Honestly I use them but I've never bothered to look up wtf was going on with them

Almo

spreading a class over multiple files is a recipe for unmaintainability

AttackingHobo

@Almo but partial classes are not required. Headers in c++ are

Wardy

@Almo dumb feature IMO

Almo

4:59 PM

seemed like a hack to get winforms to work

SpartanDonut

Oooo

Wardy

pretty much the only dumb feature in the language

Almo

so you had the auto-generated part and the user edited part

SpartanDonut

Yep I use that with ASP.NET all the time

I have no qualms with this

AttackingHobo

Its a nice feature

Wardy

5:00 PM

can be useful in t4 templating situations

Almo

I've already had problems with maintainability due to them being used poorly

Wardy

but I prefer to have my type def in 1 file

AttackingHobo

complex GUI with thousands of lines of generated code sepreate from my functions

hell yeah

SpartanDonut

I don't think a developer should often (if maybe ever) maintain two files for a single class. Autogenerated code on the other hand - I like this feature

Almo

provided a language doesn't have super-idiotic design stuff in it like PHP, I am hard pressed to say one language is better or worse than another, unless it's a clear generational difference like between C and C#

C# is clearly a better language than C

SpartanDonut

5:01 PM

I don't want to sift past a metric butt ton of control definitions to get to my code

Wardy

@SpartanDonut agreed

Almo

but i can't help but think you guys hate C++ and love C# mainly because it's what you use most

SpartanDonut

@Almo I agree with you mostly :)

Almo

I use C# every day in Unity and it hasn't made me think it's way better than C++

what I like best about working with .NET is its container classes. they're nice

Icy Defiance

unity C# is not real C#

SpartanDonut

5:03 PM

Do you get bitten by language related issues in C++?

Almo

Not often

same for Obj-C

SpartanDonut

Then I think your statement is fine

Almo

I'm comfortable in all three now, it seems

SpartanDonut

I personally don't like C++ because I personally am much more prone to run into language issues with it. C# all my issues are pretty much API related

The language gets in the way of me being productive. If I were experienced in C++ I'd probably be singing a different tune but I'm not

Almo

:D

SpartanDonut

5:06 PM

That said, I do believe that while I could probably be productive in C++, the language would still get in the way in C++ more often than it does in C#

Icy Defiance

I think that's true at a "normal" level.

once you start trying to do advanced or crazy things, I can see C++ becoming nicer

there's been a couple places where I wished for the C++ template system

but then I sucked it up and redesigned to make it work well a different way

Almo

:)

AttackingHobo

The fast charging features on my note4 is like freaking magic. Was at 20% charge when I came into work just a bit ago. Now its 90%

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

Probably a bit of number magic involved :P

Hrm

I think Spotify made a tiny change. I can no longer pause with the mouse if the window doesn't have focus.

So I need to click the pause button twice.

Almo

I prefer interfaces that take one click for focus, and another to do something

the number of times I accidentally do something when just trying to get focus annoys me

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

5:21 PM

I've noticed that you and I tend to disagree on like 90% of things. :P

Icy Defiance

I'm with Almo, except for scrolling with the mouse wheel

let me scroll without the window being active

I guess in most cases that's a Windows problem, not a problem with the program

AttackingHobo

@William'MindWorX'Mariager yeah I like being able to interact with any button on my screen at any time

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

Yeah

Should just do a monitor-top-level check rather than a focus check.

SpartanDonut

Hmmm

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

Spotify is the only thing visible on my other monitor, for the exact reason that it allows me to quickly change what I'm listening to or play/pause.

Icy Defiance

5:24 PM

I think a top-level check is really hard on Windows

SpartanDonut

I think I'm ok with this monitor top level check thing

Problem I see is button might be top level but the window isn't... that will still upset people

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

Yeah

SpartanDonut

If only Windows UI was based on JS and HTML then we wouldn't have this issue! /sarcasm

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

Then windows would need more jQuery!

SpartanDonut

oh damn

Wardy

5:48 PM

lol

Almo

6:02 PM

@IcyDefiance @SpartanDonut yeah man: "BUSTED We'll soon be launching a brand new system that greatly reduces leavers and AFKs, with more severe penalties for Ranked offenders."

oooh battlecast skarner and kog!

Icy Defiance

yeah, I played a few games last night after the servers came back, and... I'm not totally sure I like the changes

like, there's definitely a lot of room for strategy now. a lot more than last season.

but they seemed to focus on counterplay and not comebacks

AttackingHobo

►

Icy Defiance

the winning team seems to snowball way harder now than before, and games just end in a landslide

and the problem with soloque silver is no one knows shit about strategy, so opportunities for counterplay are pretty much useless

of course, I only played 3 games, so maybe I'm still missing something

Almo

6:19 PM

we'll see over time as the playerbase as a whole adjusts to the new stuff

I do like the new jungle items

Icy Defiance

I like the idea of the new jungle items, though they seem kind of weak

they'll probably be something people sell once they get 5 other items

smiting players is damn fun though

Almo

:D

Jon

jgallant.com/picrosstouch/picrosstouch.html

just noticed the grid is a little off.. but check out the new auto-theme.

Almo

6:38 PM

looks nice

AttackingHobo

@Jon how reset theme?

Hmmm

I can change it in the options....

But auto-theme?

Also you may want to change "About" to "Tutorial"

I thought clicking about was going to be like a credits page

SpartanDonut

@IcyDefiance I personally am not a fan of the comeback meta as it was

Basically it's hold on as best as you can until level 18... pray you get a good engadgement and win because respawn timers

Almo

I cannot find logic to when the guy writing this doc uses 's for plural or doesn't

the same plural will have it sometimes, but not others

Icy Defiance

@SpartanDonut comebacks before were usually about (a) catching people alone and killing them or (b) avoiding the enemy team and split pushing to take objectives

but now that split pushing thing is way harder because of new turrets

and if a team totally controls dragon, they get even farther ahead than they used to

Almo

LoL's low item spend cap (compared to dota) means sustained teamwork is how to win stalled games

Icy Defiance

6:50 PM

well yes, there's always turtling and stalling the game, but baron also makes that way harder than it used to be

Almo

yeah

Icy Defiance

if the other team controls both dragon and baron you're pretty much guaranteed to lose even if you can win team fights while turtling

Is that a bad thing?

not in my opinion

^

6:51 PM

if you control drg/baron, it means you have map dominance

which should be worth a win

Icy Defiance

I'm not sure if it's a bad thing yet... it just makes winning the early game a lot more important

Almo

it will be interesting to see how this all plays out

the S3->S4 changes weren't this huge

but their stated goal of avoiding not having to nerf/buff specific heroes due to specific cases makes sense, and I hope they succeed.

Icy Defiance

I'm not outlining things I think are bad here. I'm outlining things that are different. We'll have to figure them out before we can say they're bad.

Almo

as the number of heroes grows, this problem just gets worse

right; we're just discussing it with you :)

Icy Defiance

oh yeah they mainly did that with health regen, which was a very smart move

the one thing that annoys me the most is how kha'zix is suddenly shit :'(

the new jungle just slaughters him. take out golems and both buffs and he ends with like 10% hp left

SpartanDonut

6:54 PM

@Almo this

People (including myself) get too defensive too easily

Icy Defiance

nocturne is back though, and skarner :D

SpartanDonut

I want to have a discussion on why someone doesn't like something... and I get yelled at for being an emotional fanboy

Almo

battlecast skarner!!

finally a skarner skin worth getting

Icy Defiance

well skarner's ganks might still be shit

Almo

he has tank treads

Icy Defiance

6:55 PM

but his clear rate is one of the best, and he keeps his hp while doing it

nocturne doesn't keep his hp, but his clear rate is so damn fast that he can go b at level 3, run back to the jungle, and still be ahead of most, lol

Almo

:D

Icy Defiance

I guess I should just link this thing: cloth5.com/exploring-new-jungle-paths

oh shit class is starting in 3 minutes. I should get up there.

Jon

@AttackingHobo you don't like the auto theme?

Almo

51

Q: A co-worker is using my cup

I have a co-worker using my coffee mug at work. I want to make him stop without sounding like I'm being picky. I have tried making the point indirectly that the cup belongs to me but he still uses it. Our cleaner cleans the cups and puts them on a tray in the kitchen area, he usually arrives in ...

colleagues

workplace question bout his mug... but the mug has Java code on it, and many of the comments are criticizing the code :)

AttackingHobo

7:48 PM

I don't know what "autotheme" is @Jon I see the theme changer, but don't know what was changed.

Jon

8:15 PM

it changes everything from buttons, menu, game board

Dave

►

AttackingHobo

@Jon ha. I used a black theme. Didn't see much change :)

Jon

yeah, if you play around with the colors, the gameboard changes around

i'm trying to make it better

the darker colors work best

right now it is pretty monochromatic

i was playing with compliment colors

AttackingHobo

8:35 PM

@Jon you should just make a few themes to choose from

maybe even make them unlockable for completing puzzles

could even have textured themes too

Jon

9:18 PM

interesting idea

SpartanDonut

Someone has finally inquired at my company - "Does anyone know Unity3D?"

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Jon

lol

reply "That question gave me a hard on"

SpartanDonut

lol

I went with "This guy."

AttackingHobo

Rock hard and ready to code

Jon

I can't express my interest more than saying , I have a raging boner thinking about htis.

SpartanDonut

9:19 PM

lol

AttackingHobo

@Jon I have an idea for a game. Minesweeper VR. When you lose you black out and you are in a wheel chair with no legs and then it asks for donations to be given to landmine survivor victims.

Almo

hahaha

Joe

@SpartanDonut ready for this weekend? want to have a recap look at all the possible tech scope out where to draw the line between goal and extra if we have time?

AttackingHobo

@Almo I'm serious.

Almo

So do it :)

SpartanDonut

9:27 PM

@Joe I was born ready

Make a new doc and I'll review it later tonight

Joe

@AttackingHobo LIVE LANDMINE REPEAT

AttackingHobo

@Joe hmm?

Joe

@SpartanDonut i put up some tech stuff on the train

but with landmines

AttackingHobo

Hmmm I'm wondering how minesweeper would play with hex tiles...

Almo

ever since Little Big Planet's "Play Create Share", everybody wants a three word slogan. :(

gets old

AttackingHobo

9:31 PM

@Almo eh, its been done before LBP

Almo

that's when I recall it becoming really common

like when this movie box layout suddenly was massively popular

imdb.com/title/tt0098724

AttackingHobo

@Almo no permission

Almo

edited

TheMuffinCoder

Hey guys

I have a quick question

Almo

I have a quick answer! "No"

TheMuffinCoder

9:37 PM

:( okay

Almo

it's probably wrong, but hey. :)

TheMuffinCoder

Based on my current understandings, I can use a retail version of a Xbox one to develop application, correct?

I dont need to get like a dev kit or something special to just try to make a application

AttackingHobo

@TheMuffinCoder stop asking useless questions uselessquestionmaster

TheMuffinCoder

Wait how is that useless?

AttackingHobo

Google it, look at ms dev stuff

TheMuffinCoder

9:39 PM

I went to different sources but they all sound different

Joe

@TheMuffinCoder i think that is incorrect but i would strongly incorrage you cool this

for xbox360 that used to be the case

TheMuffinCoder

One places says I need to buy a dev account and get a dev kit

Joe

but now i think the process is very different

TheMuffinCoder

Another places says I can use the retail version and dev just on that

xbox.com/en-us/Developers/id here it saids I need to submit a application and stuff

Another place said I could just use the retail version

I want to create something before I apply or anything and see if it works

Like for android, I can just use my phone develope and everything; then I can register for a developer account and publish

AttackingHobo

@TheMuffinCoder xbox.com/en-us/Developers/id

Almo

9:42 PM

@Jon looks like the eagle head 15x15 is unsolvable

AttackingHobo

Oh you already found that

TheMuffinCoder

xD

Almo

unless I'm missing something where I could try something and see if it leads to a contradiction

AttackingHobo

@TheMuffinCoder You pretty much need to release a game for some other platform for them to really take you seriously

Buy an xbox controller and make a pc game

the if its really good submit a dev request and port it to xbone

TheMuffinCoder

@AttackingHobo Thanks! That was the answer I was looking for

Oh I looked more into it

Can I use my retail Xbox One as a developer kit?

As part of our vision for enabling everyone with an Xbox One to be a creator, we intend to enable people to develop games using their retail Xbox One consoles. Right now, though, you still need a developer kit.

Almo

9:45 PM

@AttackingHobo that's decent advice

Chris

that's cool that they're looking into it at least..

AttackingHobo

There may be a way to change a regular xbox to a dev kit, but you need to have your own dev id which can only be gotten through MS

TheMuffinCoder

TIME TO CHECK OUT PS4 DEV INFO

Almo

ecks bahks

AttackingHobo

@TheMuffinCoder seriously. make a good pc game and all that shit can be done later

don't get into consoles off the bat man

Almo

9:47 PM

^

TheMuffinCoder

@AttackingHobo xD am not a good dev

But am going to buy a console for my younger brother

I want to see which i can play around with

Almo

stay away from ouya

BlueBug

hi muffin. Muffin is delicious. My favorite muffin is blueberry muffin.

AttackingHobo

Don't waste your time man. Get good at PC dev.

Almo

unless you don't mind the prospect of never getting any dough for your game

AttackingHobo

9:48 PM

and then move onto consoles

Almo

but AH is right that you're better off starting on PC

SpartanDonut

@BlueBug Get out. Lemon Poppyseed or riot.

Almo

many many dev hassles you can avoid there

TheMuffinCoder

@BlueBug Hi BlueBug :D

Well am out I have to do homework

Joe

@SpartanDonut @BlueBug bannana nut yo

BlueBug

9:49 PM

Lemon Poppyseed. What's that? That sounds delicious. googes oh that one! I love them as well.

SpartanDonut

ʇnu ɐuɐuɐq ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ʎɹɹǝqǝnlq

BlueBug

lol

TheMuffinCoder

The sad thing....

Is I do really eat muffins

BlueBug

yam, YAM! GRRR!

also reddit.com/r/muffins

Almo

I was just sittin' here, eatin' my muffin, and I had what alcoholics refer to... as a moment of clarity.

SpartanDonut

9:54 PM

@Joe train?

oh the ride

Is there a new doc? I'm not seeing changes

Google docs is weird

Ah... I'm dumb. I wanted drive not docs. Google even knew and told me.

MLM

Anybody play Insurgency here? I got it in the latest Humble Bundle and I am quite liking it. If you want to see some gameplay/review I recommend this video because the one on Humble Bundle doesn't have any gameplay.

Very different from anything I have played but closest thing I can think of is Battlefield.

SpartanDonut

I thought about picking that up...

@Joe just had a great idea I think

We'll talk later

But remind me to tell you

Chris

I bought Insurgency but haven't played it yet ._.

Jon

10:09 PM

@Almo the remaining levels are the ones with problems

Almo

:(

Jon

pitched a game concept a year ago

reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/19rte7/…

Chris

lol

AttackingHobo

@Jon amazing

Jon

@Almo that puzzle i just fixed I think ;)

Almo

10:13 PM

:D

Jon

0nly 8 left to pass, so its not bad.. thenthere are a shit load of 10x10 that are broken too

haha

but th 15x15 are the hardest

the 10x10 are teh most fun, if you ask me

Almo

shit

Jon

you get any of them?

Almo

I'm looking for great WWI books, and I find that what might be the definitive modern work on it is unfinished. One volume of three is done, and it took him 15 years to do it. :(

TheMuffinCoder

Thank you BlueBug... I think I found a new home reddit.com/r/muffins

Almo

10:15 PM

I just read Guns of August, which covers the lead up to the war (quickly) and the first month of the war now I want to know more

yes i ask for weird things for christmas :)

Lokkij

Has anyone played This war of mine?

Almo

forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=200242

:(

Lokkij

blog.freecodecamp.com/2014/11/…

Joe

@SpartanDonut got time tonight? Say 7 or 8 central?

SpartanDonut

10:34 PM

I'm hoping I'll be home by 8

Not too much to say

Just my idea on the overall gameplay

We honestly could just as easily work this out tomorrow on the fly

Nothing changes drastically from what you've proposed thus far

Joe

You see the new doc? I just want to make sure were good for tom. If were good no worries

SpartanDonut

We're good

The only thing I might do is weigh pros and cons between 2D and 3D once more but I think I'm up for either... but I think I've got the overall gameplay figured out for us

anyway I'm out for now. Talk later or tomorrow

Ali.S

@SpartanDonut what's with your new avatar?

it feels so alone, and way too much determined!

AttackingHobo

10:50 PM

►

Awesome ^ GTAV looks like a completely different game in first person

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