Game Development

Guys how should I add different player shirt colors? Should I pre-draw them in Gimp or somehow dynamically color it with a color the player chooses? I'm probably going to limit the amount of players to something like four players at max anyways, so creating huge amounts of sprites is not a problem I think

Joe

@Tyyppi_77 can you make the shirt grayscale, then run a colored shader on it with the right effect "multiply" etc

limiting your assets and do this with code

SpartanDonut

His "pool" could simply be something like the following:

class SpritePool
{
	Sprite EnemySprite;
	Sprite PlayerSprite;
	Sprite ProjectileSprite;
}

user92578

I can't do shaders

Joe

¿por que?, but why?

user92578

2:05 PM

"Porque uses an XML-defined data-schema to produce a database schema and a PHP object model with getters/setters, database persistence, HTML form templates, and HTML post/data reception."?

Kevin van der Velden

@SpartanDonut meh, that's not a pool =p. But yeah that's fine =p

SpartanDonut

That's what I meant by too literal

I probably shouldn't have used the word pool

to be fair

Kevin van der Velden

Yeah

I'm sorry but this is text, we can't not take things literally

Sword

SpartanDonut

You can, actually. We can have a discussion of concepts from a higher level than just getting stuck on nitty gritty details about which words were used

user92578

2:08 PM

@Joe It's SDL2

Kevin van der Velden

@SpartanDonut yes, but if you use a word then it is only charitable to assume you mean what the word you used means. Otherwise we would not be talking to you, we would be talking to an imaginary person

user92578

no shaders available

SpartanDonut

@KevinvanderVelden you don't need to beat me up over this when I already admitted partial fault.

Still, pool is a concept, not a concrete idea

Kevin van der Velden

@SpartanDonut I'm not beating you up over it =p. I am trying to clarify where I stand

SpartanDonut

A simple google of "what is an object pool" brings up

> An object pool is a collection of a particular object that an application will create and keep on hand for those situations where creating each instance is expensive.

From an SO answer

Kevin van der Velden

2:10 PM

I will take the words you say here to mean what they usually mean, because otherwise we would get nowhere with any discussion :)

Joe

@Tyyppi_77 hmm im not sure then short of making N-player shirt sprites one for each desired color

SpartanDonut

Unless you get stuck on the definition of "collection" - my naive example is a pool by that definition

Sword

I already have a base class , so I'll just create instances of enemies there ..

Kevin van der Velden

@SpartanDonut eeh, technically

Close enough as long as you don't say it's the object pool pattern :p

SpartanDonut

I never did

Kevin van der Velden

2:13 PM

Yeah

Sword

thanks guys , it looks sorted now

I was messing up real bad

Almo

@Sword except the ice cream you ate from them doesn't help them. I pay taxes here in Canada, and when I went to the clinic friday and had an x-ray, i didn't have to pay out of pocket for it. I got something for my tax money, but the kid in the picture doesn't.

I also know that someone who earns much less than me can get the same service, and I think that's how it should be.

Sword

@Almo if it is a corrupt nation , you get nothing :)

Kevin van der Velden

@Almo well, I suppose he lives with his parents, is clothed and fed and such =p

@Sword if it's america you get.... uuuh, a big army!

Almo

@Sword This image is probably referring to the US, which is not so corrupt you get nothing for your taxes.

Kevin van der Velden

2:17 PM

And a big prison system

Almo

there are roads, for example.

Corruption IS a problem, don't get me wrong, but taxes aren't a bad thing in and of themselves.

Kevin van der Velden

Taxes are awesome (even if they don't feel awesome)

@Almo eeh, american public infrastructure is.. hmm.. bad

See also: youtube.com/watch?v=Wpzvaqypav8

Sword

the tax system in india is so complicated.. We barely earned something and they gnawed off a chunk of it.. really bad :(

Almo

yeah, it needs help. But US taxes are pretty low, comparatively.

If taxes = no economic growth, how did the US ever get through the 50s?!?

Kevin van der Velden

Barely

Almo

2:19 PM

hahah

Sword

in Java on Stack Overflow Chat, 12 mins ago, by fge

@Sword excellent! Now, if this were gasoline in France that would be 80% :p

Joe

anyone seen / played crossy road? specifically the ad monetization(sp) on there?

Sword

yeah

the frog crossing , right?

Joe

thats the one... every [So Much Time] they have a button that comes up allowing the user to "EARN COINS"

you click it and it plays a video ad... survive the video advert and you get 20 coins

Sword

yeah , thats a nice way of getting to users to click on adverts

Joe

2:23 PM

and the dev gets an PPC

but is that allowed?

I thought those ad companies really discouraged that sort of thing

Sword

yes it does AFAIK

what is PPC ?

Joe

pay per click

Sword

pay per click

you won :D

Joe

on my last site I got a pretty decent chunk of change for each click I could generate

largest was some lawyer ended up paying 6 bucks for a click on some legal advice ad

Sword

i dont think users mind that approach.. When I get free coins for watching an ad , I do it with a smile..

@Joe :D

Joe

2:26 PM

how are they getting away with this if its a frowned upon or "shunned" practice... they have 10 million users (correct me if my figures are wrong)

i did too

and i felt happy i was getting the developer of a free game money

Sword

where did you read about the shunned practice?

Joe

Last time I served ads i had to agree to google TOS

it is very clear you should not do this sort of thing

SpartanDonut

Different ad provider then probably

Find one that doesn't disallow this and there aren't problems

Almo

a feature I plan to add to my game is watch video to get an extra entry in a contest.

Joe

honestly I love the ingenuity of this

Hey we have ads, we'll trade you ONLY IF YOU'RE WILLING, support our game and we'll give you stuff you want

everyone wins except the ad provider

SpartanDonut

2:29 PM

The ad provider wins to a very minimal extent

The statistic should, theoretically, just end up different than usual

As in your conversion rate will be much different

Joe

what we are doing is serving ad and paying for serving ads to people who dont really want them

so its somewhat a win if you just want to put your ad in someones face

SpartanDonut

Sure but more people are seeing the ads

Almo

@Joe ads do their thing by repeated exposure

Joe

this practice is probably drastically driving down the payment amount of ad revenue

SpartanDonut

Possibly

Joe

2:31 PM

i guess you are both right

Almo

ok i better go sleep

SpartanDonut

The ad provider just needs to adjust terms and rates based on the type of advertising that will be done

Almo

talk later guys

SpartanDonut

If you want to do this, your rate is X. Otherwise your rate is Y

Joe

But that laywer was willing to pay me 6 bucks for a legit click... hes not going to pay 6 bucks for 10 million fake clicks

@SpartanDonut very true

SpartanDonut

2:33 PM

Moral of the story - only do whatever is permissable within your TOS and keep an eye on any TOS changes. If in doubt, follow up with the provider to make sure the practice you want to follow is ok with them

The rest of it is for the ad provider to worry about

Joe

I wonder what provider they use I was impressed I dont play many mobile games like that, but I like to check out the stuff coming from unity

SpartanDonut

If you aren't using an ad provider service, make sure you have solid contracts with the independent ad providers

Such as in the case with the lawyer

Joe

well anyways hows it going dude, building anything cool?

SpartanDonut

Mostly just ghetto on/off ramps in Cities lol

I really shouldn't be allowed to play city sims

5

Joe

haha

SpartanDonut

2:38 PM

I've been slacking. Haven't downloaded Unity 5 or the latest UE yet

Joe

I was getting nervous when UE went free... thought I was going to be forced into switching

SpartanDonut

Meh

Unity 5 would still be fine without the pro engine features. The pro engine features now being free is just icing on the cake

Joe

platform looks fine, just not super interested in relearning a platform right now

SpartanDonut

My gut tells me that the 2D workflow is much better in Unity still too

Joe

I am Very happy with Unity 5

SpartanDonut

2:42 PM

Glad to hear it :)

Joe

haha I am easy to please, I just need to make something now...

JohnPoison

2D workflow in unity is missing proper sd/hd packs handling

I mean native unity 2D

Joe

even with 5?

JohnPoison

even with 5

SpartanDonut

Still mroe complete than most alternatives

JohnPoison

2:47 PM

Unity devs said they're working on that

SpartanDonut

Especially UE4

JohnPoison

we're waiting for it now

SpartanDonut

(the whole 2D workflow I mean)

Joe

@JohnPoison you say native unity 2D, whats the implied alternative? plugins?

SpartanDonut

Plugins would be a safe assumption there

Or custom code for it

Whether that's a home grown plugin or an external tool

JohnPoison

2:50 PM

@Joe yes, like SpriteKit

Pip

@Almo cya

@JohnPoison It's not that bad

JohnPoison

It's bad

Pip

I'm using it, I like it, and it works fine for me :D

JohnPoison

especially for commercial

There's no gurantee that sprite kit devs won't dump it

Joe

@Pip so we may be missing some information here.. I haven't shipped anything, let alone anything ios

I actually havent even built for an ios device

but I havent noticed issues on android but I guess I am avoiding "retina" that way

Pip

2:52 PM

I've never released on android, it worked fine for a phone and a tablet that I have

Never tried iOS

SpartanDonut

I wish I had more skills on the art side of things. Would be fun to put out some interesting Unreal Tournament maps

Though I suppose a lot can be done with simple geometry / BSP and fancy textures

Joe

@JohnPoison so do you avoid unity at the moment, in preference of IOS native obj-c or swift to work with sprite kit?

SpartanDonut

Would be fun to recreate the bombing run game mode from UT2004 if that isn't in the works already.

Joe

@SpartanDonut what kind of "art site skills" are you looking for

SpartanDonut

3D modeling I think. I could do simple stuff but anything complex that shouldn't look like a floor or wall or pillar or something equally simply would be beyond what I'd want to spend time on

But if I had a great idea I could probably trudge through it

That said, I don't have a great idea at the moment :)

Joe

3:01 PM

blender is a pretty sick application, but its not exactly inviting or simple to pick up

im horrible at it lol

JohnPoison

@Joe If you're targeting multiple platforms, then use Unity, otherwise it's up to you. Unity getting better

@Joe blender's awesome )

it's like vim in 3d modeling

SpartanDonut

@Joe I did take a 3DS Max class at one point so I'm pretty familiar with the concepts behind 3D modeling. From there it should hopefully just be a matter of learning the specific layout of the tool at hand

Joe

@JohnPoison cant tell if compliment or insult -_-

lol

JohnPoison

@Joe you don't use vim, right? :-D

SpartanDonut

I made a pretty awesome Lego man in 3DS max. lol

Joe

3:04 PM

I am actually actively trying to get better at vi/m on my offtime, but I am not good enough to use it at work

@SpartanDonut oh nice true true yea dude this "Art" stuff is all hours logged in my mind, if you want to get good, make 1000 models

SpartanDonut

I have major issues conceptualizing the possible gains of using VIM so I've not bothered. I'm quite efficient with the tools I already use so I don't see the point

Joe

I dont know if there are gains to be had, but I recently thought about playing MMOs

and i recalled the players who clicked their hotbar verses the ones who knew the keyboard shortcuts

Soapy

@SpartanDonut Unless you use linux a lot there is no real need to use/learn VIM, imo.

Joe

I feel like If I could use an editor without needing to take my hand off the keyboard to use a mouse, I could be a productivity god

4

Kevin van der Velden

It's pretty damn awesome

@Soapy I use vim for 90% of my text editing needs, on windows

(100% on the rare occasion I use linux)

Joe

3:10 PM

how do you get good? just years of practice?

Sword

a question if i have 2 classes A and B with the update() method; and i create their objects as a and b resp ; In class A i declare a and b. Calling b.update() calls the update method from B or from A?

Kevin van der Velden

@Joe I started with just text editing, how to navigate and add text

Then I went on how to combine "motions" as they are called with commands

JohnPoison

@SpartanDonut what if you have to change your tools? Most of the IDEs supports vim mode. So when I switch tools I don't even notice it. Without vim I have to memorize all shortcuts and other unncessary stuff

Kevin van der Velden

That is, ddelete f to the next character: )

Then I learned macros and some more regex stuff

Then I customized the shit out of vim

JohnPoison

@KevinvanderVelden I'm too, except windows )

Joe

3:14 PM

@KevinvanderVelden damn I need to study haha

JohnPoison

I see vim not as an editor but as philosophy

I use Sublime + Vintage mode now, and it's awesome

SpartanDonut

@JohnPoison most of my efficiency comes from efficiency with the native keyboard capabilities. Home, End, Page Up, Page down, use of Shift and Control for selecting words / lines, etc.

Kevin van der Velden

@JohnPoison that is pretty accurate

JohnPoison

@SpartanDonut and you should every time take your hand out of working zone of keyboard, it's not efficient, besides it involves movements that are harmful to the hands

I'm scared by emacs users

all commands in vim are intuitive when you get used to it

SpartanDonut

@JohnPoison I move my forearm if that makes you feel better

It's all very natural motions

Kevin van der Velden

3:19 PM

@JohnPoison Yeah, it's like a tiny little language where you can speak sentences, as opposed to just shouting single things as in regular editors

SpartanDonut

And I still have doubts about the efficiency gains being worth my time to learn VIM

Ali.S

@Joe lol

SpartanDonut

Needless to say - I need some more substantial evidence on the efficiency gains. You aren't going to convince me it's more efficient just by telling me my methods are inefficient

Joe

@SpartanDonut im skeptical myself, so im going to try it

so far the learning curve and barrier to entry is very high

JohnPoison

actually now I just hang when I get to my colleague's PC and have to use regular editor. It takes time to realize how to code without vim

Kevin van der Velden

3:23 PM

@SpartanDonut well, unfortunately to the best of my knowledge there are no scientific studies comparing vim with other editors, so anecdotes are the best you'll get

@JohnPoison it's so slow

JohnPoison

@KevinvanderVelden and so annoying =)

SpartanDonut

I guess I mean I'd be looking for a handful of tasks that I would do on a regular basis, how it would normally be done opposed to how it can be done in VIM

Kevin van der Velden

Yeess, "And now I will type 4 characters and have fixed the quotes... oh wait no I can't, I have to manually go to them either by keyboard or mouse and then remove them and reinsert them"

(Those 4 characters being cs'", change surrounding ' into ". Given by the surround plugin)

SpartanDonut

I can then analyze this on a case by case basis and make a decision from that

Kevin van der Velden

I can help with the vim method if you want =p

JohnPoison

3:29 PM

monosnap.com/file/R199NXqGtALB2C0qN47EacLkSJrVMq# just some demonstration. Without any ctrl or any other modifier key

Kevin van der Velden

Hmm not working at work

(as in the site, I'm also not working at work but that's different)

Joe

@KevinvanderVelden this is something that annoys me constantly... not always quotes, but im always working around something like this... xml tags, parens for method parameters whatever json array and object notation

Kevin van der Velden

Yeah, I love it

I can also select a piece of text and add add quotes around it

Joe

that I "built into" some of my editors with plugins

Kevin van der Velden

O parentheses (any type, with and without spacing)

Or or or

SpartanDonut

3:42 PM

@JohnPoison Thanks. I'll check this out. I honestly have no qualms with modifier keys and removing them alone isn't going to increase my productivity to make it worth while but I'll definitely review what you've got there.

user4704

I am not particularly bothered by "efficiency," but I do find that modal text editing allows me to type in a way that doesn't cramp my hands as much after as long a period of time.

SpartanDonut

Is the cramping something you've noticed over time? I guess I just don't feel cramped

user4704

Yes.

user4704

Particularly when typing in confined spaces on a laptop on the plane.

user4704

But as I get older, it happens more generally.

Soapy

3:46 PM

If there's anything more volatile than OS wars it's a text editor war...

Kevin van der Velden

I kinda want to look in to getting a bigger keyboard. The keys are large enough but I feel like I'm holding my hands unnaturally close together

JohnPoison

I'm using MS's natural keyboard

SpartanDonut

@JoshPetrie Ah yeah I can relate to that at least. I just assumed the it was the nature of the beast (smaller keyboards / laptops)

If there are better ways to type on such devices to alleviate the pain, so to speak, I can see the value there

user4704

Yeah. My hands are pretty small, so small keyboards aren't usually a problem (and I like the minimalist desk space involved).

user4704

But it only really works when I have enough room around me; not the case in a plane :|

user4704

3:49 PM

And then, you're always more resilient to this sort of stuff when you are younger.

JohnPoison

@JoshPetrie how old are you Mr. ? =)

user4704

32.

Kevin van der Velden

I have pretty big hands, if I put my hands on the palmrest my middle fingers are above the numbers

(hands on the edge of the palm rest, also touching the table)

So I'm already "Wtf palmrest?"

JohnPoison

@JoshPetrie You're young. Since when have you been working with PC ? )

user4704

Since I was five. I didn't say I was old, I said I was older.

Kevin van der Velden

3:53 PM

Anything above 25 is old

Until april 8th. Then anything above 26 is old

JohnPoison

wow, I'm almost old

rofl

@JoshPetrie then it's good that I started to care about my hands

SpartanDonut

Yes! I'll be young again on April 8th xD

but yeah... I have a high tolerance for a lot of things but one thing I can't stand is being uncomfortable. I like to think how I type / use a keyboard isn't being that hard on my hands / wrists but I'm not sure

I realize there are all sorts of study on keyboard use and carpal tunnel, etc but I'm incredibly comfortable typing

Makes me have doubts that I probably shouldn't have lol

user4704

I don't know of a good way to test it. Other than to just wait until something starts to happen and then correct it. :P

SpartanDonut

Haha yeah. Kind of what I was thinking.

Pip

@KevinvanderVelden lol

JohnPoison

3:57 PM

I got my first PC when I was 15 and started coding when I was 17. I envy teenagers that build robust games. Like @Tyyppi_77

user92578

@JohnPoison :)

Pip

@JohnPoison I can do games, just not.... robust

you should check out @Grey

He's a effing beast (at... 16 I think)

Almo

so don't make a game where you move a canoe then run into something

row-bust

2

Pip

lol

SpartanDonut

gtfo

Pip

3:58 PM

Alright, dev time!

user92578

or tits, whatever you want

Pip

lol

JohnPoison

:-D

@Pip I'll die from envy

Pip

lol

I hope to get something out there sometime in the next month or so

steady progress now that I'm using a engine/framework (now Unity) that doesn't crap itself and break Linux builds every time there's a new feature added

JohnPoison

@Pip what was before?

Pip

4:03 PM

MonoGame

The stable version is good, but the dev version (which had some fixes I needed as well as a lot of broken shit) is..... broken all of the time :D

JohnPoison

@Pip so the dev version is exactly for that :-D

Pip

lol

Lokkij

> You die!
> Xom is highly amused!

Damnit Xom.

JohnPoison

@Lokkij is it from that rogue-like game?

Lokkij

Yep!

JohnPoison

4:07 PM

I wanted to try it. And even downloaded sources :-D

Lokkij

DCSS is pretty awesome. I've been playing it for years and I've won exactly one time.

JohnPoison

lol

pretty badass game

Lokkij

Part of that is my refusal to pick the easier race/class combinations now that I have a win, but even then it took me years to win with the easiest combination.

Almo

Sounds like Spider in the solitaire world.

that game's fucking hard.

I've won something like 3% of my games on many hundreds of games.

Lokkij

Sounds pretty easy compared to DCSS. :P

SpartanDonut

4:11 PM

Solitaire alone is stupidly rigged lol

Almo

and it's not just hard because many deals are impossible (one author estimated 25% of deals are winnable), but that even a winnable deal can very easily be lost by poor play.

Yeah, Klondike (the "normal" variant) is originally a gambling game.

user92578

I remember when Minecraft broke and I spent weeks playing nothing but Spider

Almo

you paid to play, then got paid back for each card laid on foundations.

So that's definitely going to be rigged against the player. :)

@Tyyppi_77 awesome :)

Pip

lol

Lokkij

I've played hundred if not thousands of games of DCSS and only explored half the branches.

Almo

4:12 PM

When I play solitaire, it's usually the harder variants.

@Lokkij wow sounds bitchy :)

user92578

Just a sympathetic blooper

►

Lokkij

It's awesome. There is so much content to discover!

Almo

hahhaha

fun though

Lokkij

Yeah tons of fun. There's also 26 different races and 23 different classes, so a lot of character variety.

user92578

Why do people not understand the concept of Q&A?

user92578

4:15 PM

-1

Q: What you think about this characters

Today we finished our first characters bundle for new mobile RPG! Now I wanna hear what you think about it. Maybe we should add smt or exclude! Any opinion is welcome! By the way If you like what we do, I can invite you for the beta test.