Game Development

Alex M.

19:14

RuneScape
For fans of the old combat system we're giving you the chance to vote on whether we introduce Legacy Mode!

lol Jagex is trying so hard to please everyone

they'll clearly fail in the end

MickLH

I think they are just trying to save themselves

They screwed over their entire game with their incessant updates made by people who are not exactly 1337 at actually playing the game

Alex M.

what from?

RS is still popular

MickLH

Not compared to when it was actually popular :P

For the scale of MMORPG it used to be, it's almost a ghost town now

Alex M.

well that's the fate of any game really

MickLH

yeah, but they know they screwed up with their patches, almost all the feedback they got from users was ridiculous hate on the patches

Actually every single person I play RS with hated the patches with me, the only good thing they have done recently was they put their game client from 2007 back online for people

ToddersLegrande

19:22

I think I stopped playing RS in like... 2003 lol.

MickLH

I almost feel like it's gone CoD and the original gaming spirit only exists as a residue from the past, it's only for money not pleasure now

Alex M.

I dunno man

back when I was playing in 2004+

the fact that I've never seen something like it and that I was a kid played a huge role

I don't mind the new RS

I wouldn't play RS 2007

I've already seen enough of it anyway

I'd much rather play the new one

Lasse

I feel like I should put up a stream of me programming

Alex M.

why?

MickLH

For the quests, I think the new is better of course

Lasse

19:26

I don't know

Alex M.

nobody cares unless you're a celebrity

Lasse

I know

Alex M.

I'd like to see someone like Carmack coding

Lasse

but that's how I feel

ToddersLegrande

I played back before it had 3d graphics... and quit shortly after they came out with the paid members areas

Alex M.

19:26

not a penguin mashing his beak on the keyboard

ToddersLegrande

or even having paid members. Was 100% free at one point

Though that didn't influence my decision to stop playing. Just moved on to other things

joapet99

PENGUINS

MickLH

But I don't play RS for the quests lmao, I honestly hate grinding, I just bot and PvP

Lasse

Don't worry alex, I tried once to put up a stream and I only got a black screen sent over to the streaming server

So it's not gonna happen during this jam

joapet99

I've started on a game since many people insisted my to make one

Lasse

19:28

Alex M.

I'll do a stream

"HEY GUYS CHECK OUT MY STREAM"

people open up the stream

I begin coding

joapet99

@AlexM. wher is your stream?

Alex M.

int
main(int argc,
     char** argv) {
	return 0;
}

Lasse

I'm also playing awesome music in the background

Alex M.

everyone loses their fucking mind

joapet99

19:29

NO not pointers

MickLH

hahahahahaha_h_

joapet99

HELP

Lasse

joapet it's not the pointers what's wrong in that

Alex M.

then people DDOS twitch

and in the court they say

"twitch allowed alex m to show the world that bullshit. I have no regrets."

MickLH

that motherfucking newline between int and main ... trangity.

joapet99

19:31

The main thingy isn't doing anything

Lasse

I'm making progress, I got the first sprite on screen in my game

joapet99

I'm continuing on a game so don't have problems with that

ToddersLegrande

That reminds me.. I need to come up with an idea.

MickLH

@AlexM. You do realize that this superfluous newline makes you a bad person, correct?

joapet99

I think I got my battle system cooler now

Alex M.

19:32

Dictionary<Dictionary<List<string>, Queue<List<string>>>, Queue<Stack<List<Dictionary<string,string>>>>>
getSubDict(Dictionary<Dictionary<List<string>, Queue<List<string>>>, Queue<Stack<List<Dictionary<string,string>>>>> dict) {
  ...
}

Lasse

alex please make it stop

I can't take any more

joapet99

:/:/:(:(:WWWWWWWWOOO

Alex M.

@MickLH I like it rough.

MickLH

Yeah I inferred that from your dictionary indexed by dictionaries

joapet99

The formating is ****7

Alex M.

19:35

guys, let me show you the newest and best way to encapsulate data

Lasse

uhh what is the general name for shot bullets and shot laser beams and such?

MickLH

If I try to make a 3rd level of data-structure in my program anywhere, I consider the design fucked up and re-think it

@Lasse projectile?

Lasse

ah, that's good. But are lasers projectiles?

MickLH

yes photons have finite speed

Lasse

great

Alex M.

19:36

class MyClass
{
	private Type _myField;
	private Type _myField2;

	public Type getField(string fieldName)
	{
		if (fieldName.Equals("_myField"))
		{
			return _myField;
		}
		else if (fieldName.Equals("_myField2"))
		{
			return _myField2;
		}
		else
		{
			throw new InvalidParameterException();
		}
	}
}

this not only protects state from the outside objects

it protects it from programmers who don't know the insides of each class too

MickLH

@AlexM. old news @joapet99 already invented this pfft!

Luis W

class MyClass

Alex M.

someone unfamiliar to the project will d...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I was beaten to it then.

joapet will get the Nobel prize now

joapet99

:D

MickLH

yes so start trying to enjoy your shamed family @AlexM.

Alex M.

19:38

:(

joapet99

First I will say thank you to all of you that supported me and made me win this price

it is a big honor

MickLH

lol

Alex M.

you won 50% off on the new Converse shirts

joapet99

I don't want 50% off on the new Converse shirts I want 75% off on the new golmers

Alex M.

so you make it... and you buy it

sounds like what the politicians in my country do

they hired a company to build a pool somewhere for $3 mil or something

and later it turned out the company was owned by a minister's relative

way to give money from the state's budget to a random guy's company

user4704

19:43

XNamespace: World's stupidest class ever.

joapet99

The golmers price is energy. You need to type in a letter to get them to appear

user4704

Has an implicit conversation from string but cannot be constructed with a string.

ToddersLegrande

And here I thought we were just upset about the class' name. It gets better I see

Alex M.

my classes all have implicit conversations with strings

user4704

Designed by morons.

Alex M.

19:45

for some reason the strings like to talk about everything

joapet99

Does "Implicit conversation" stand on the "top 100 words I don't understand"

ToddersLegrande

@joapet99 it's implicit conversion... just a typo that Alex was poking fun at

Or at least I hope because otherwise I'll join you in not understand how strings have conversations

joapet99

Its like tea cups making coffee

Alex M.

it's the Conversation design pattern

joapet99

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBPB

Alex M.

19:49

while the CPU waits for the HDD to feed data to it (only relevant if you don't have an SSD)

you can tell the objects to relax a bit

and have conversations with each other

joapet99

xo

Alex M.

this design pattern requires deep knowledge of both hardware and software

only the most experienced developers can do it

I have heard legends of developers making sure objects only talk about particular topics too

but nobody ever saw one doing that

joapet99

I wonder if they talk about the most powerful pet in the world: joapet99. Who rules the land of golmers

user4704

All of Linq-to-XML basically sucks at creating XML with namespaces.

user4704

Bummer.

user4704

19:51

I guess I will string.Format the hell out of it like an animal.

ToddersLegrande

Is a lot of your tools dev .NET stuff @JoshPetrie?

joapet99

I think the strings say: "Have you heard about the new golmer collection?"
"Yes, totally. It is now with another amazing texture with one pixel changed from the first one"

Alex M.

@joapet99 for some reason the fact that the joke appeals to you makes me think it was a very unfunny joke

gotta try harder next time

joapet99

Why is my gun not reloaded yet? Damnit

Lasse

Is. A gun is. Many guns are.

joapet99

19:55

screw english grammar

Alex M.

you heard him guys

user4704

@ToddersLegrande Yes. Usually is these days, almost everywhere.

Alex M.

in GDSE GameJam, 47 secs ago, by Alex M.

►

^ the only clocks I like

ToddersLegrande

@JoshPetrie definitely makes sense. I never really put two and two together though. You come across as a hardcore C++ guy I never thought of it.

Alex M.

@JoshPetrie were you a tools engineer at arenanet too?

for some reason I always thought .NET was the go-to tech for any sort of tools unless they dealt with very low level stuff

user4704

19:57

@AlexM. I was the lead tools engineer, yeah.

user4704

I work on infrastructure tools here, which are different (build farm versus content creation tools).

BlueBug

Almo

ubisoft uses C# and .NET for a lot of its tools

Alex M.

I write all of my tools in C# .NET unless they're just tiny scripts

BlueBug

my new hobby-relaxing method. Take random conversation from chat.stakexchange then draw it.

Alex M.

20:00

then I use either Python or I write a quick shell script

@BlueBug keep at it

it has potential

BlueBug

thank you. I ~~wana~~ will be bill-gates-rich one day with my art.

Ali.S

@AlexM. why is that movie not available in my country (aka. Netherlands though proxy)

Alex M.

it's not a movie

it's a music video

dutchmen might not like clocks I guess

guys, I'm really thinking about buying a Romanian phone

Ali.S

that's was misspell!

Alex M.

people say they're kinda not reliable but I see very few to actually report manufacturing issues

and since they're made in Romania, you can't beat the price

Almo

20:04

I just googled "romanian cell phones are unreliable"

no hits :)

so if anyone is saying that, A) it's not indexed by google B) it's not in English. :)

Alex M.

with 1GB of RAM

and the CPU is clocked at 1.2GHZ

it's $300 without contract

the screen runs at 720p

@Almo androidosfan.com/phones/allview

this is the company making them

Almo

so you gettin one?

Alex M.

I dunno, the price is definitely good

if the phone runs well, I can't really find a good reason for shelling out another $150 for a Samsung

and it sort of feels right to buy a Romanian product

you don't see these everyday

and that's mostly because without them being dirt cheap, people will always go for foreign companies with better marketing

I wish the Romanians were bigger when it comes to clothing too

Ali.S

@AlexM. comparing that to lumia 920, I definitely pick lumia

Alex M.

I'm growing tired of the overpriced imported crap that breaks in a few weeks

@Ali.S lol yeah Lumia

I bet I'll have fun playing games from the amazing 3-games selection

Ali.S

20:11

@AlexM. well, I do have it right now

Alex M.

and sharing thoughts with the other Lumia user

Ali.S

and had it for the past 11 months

Almo

:D

Ali.S

I can't day I don't play games, but I guess 30+ titles I have in my games section is more than enough for me :P

even 3 would have been enough, right now I almost only play temple run 2

and 2 weeks before than I was playing only subway surfer

Alex M.

I'd rather have Google Play over Microsoft Store anyday

ToddersLegrande

20:15

MS store is lacking... but I don't really use my phone for much other than music, internet, email, texting, and calls... and personally, between Android and WP8 as OS, I like WP8 better.

Same with Windows 8 / RT. I don't see myself needing (or wanting) all this apps that don't do a whole lot. I love my Surface because I think Windows 8 is the superior OS

Alex M.

this guy says he gets 3+ days of light usage with that Allview phone

afaik Nokia is far from that

mainly because WP eats up battery like hell

Almo

so I need to verify if a guy I'm going to interview can deal with pointers; he lists no C++ in his known languages.

I'm thinking of having him write the ol' linked list

dropbox.com/s/7wla5ey0oe4qox9/LLTest.zip

if one person

could take a look at that, and tell me what they think

the instructions are in main.cpp

Alex M.

you don't need C++ to do pointers!

Almo

you don't

but his languages don't do pointers

Alex M.

type
     pInt = ^Integer;

Almo

20:18

and Pandemic is mainly C++

most C# code I've seen doesn't mess with pointers unless absolutely necessary

ToddersLegrande

@AlexM. My phone will last until at least I get home on the 2nd day if not until I go to bed depending on how light my usage actually is. (HTC 8x)

Still pretty good IMO

Lasse

@AlexM. you forgot to add "no" in there

"you don't need no c++ to do pointers"

that sounds more convinsing

endrohat

@Almo seems ok to me

Almo

ok thanks dude.

ToddersLegrande

I enjoy the naive way of thinking in that pointers are really just bad syntax for references

Almo

20:19

hahaha

endrohat

you can add printing elements in reverse without using any other structure as a bonus question

:P

Almo

:D

saadtaame

Hello all, nice to see that a good number of people are online.

Alex M.

new user

hi

ToddersLegrande

Obviously you can do more complex / neater tricks with pointers that make them really powerful but I think the majority of pointer use is the same as C# references... but I've never used C++ in "the real world" so I could be wrong.

I learned C++ first and I remember thinking I wanted pointers in C# but then I realized I really didn't

3

Almo

20:22

hahaha

C# gets a major cookie for the "out" keyword.

seems much smarter to me.

ToddersLegrande

out is a good one

MickLH

Well one such trick is if you were to try to do the extra credit assignment, since you only get one pointer field, you'd have to use bit hacks like an XOR linked list

BlueBug

@JoshPetrie

saadtaame

I wanted to ask you guys, I'd like to apply to an internship for a game dev company and I wanted to work on a personal project just to increase chances of getting the intern. I know programming, I have a degree in CS. What do you guys suggest? Looking for a game involving a bit of AI and stuff.

Almo

if you complete a game, that looks good

MickLH

20:24

@saadtaame enter the game jam that's going on right now lol

ToddersLegrande

@saadtaame I don't work in the games industry but have looked into it very much so, especially while I was in school. Completed projects are key

Almo

many hobby programmers never finish anything

MickLH

you're only like 2 hours behind

Almo

and game studios want people who can finish stuff.

SalarianEngineer

@AlexM. On your earlier comment about the required rep for the jam - any chance whoever started it can get rid of that silly requirement? I won't be able to participate in it this time (daughter's birthday party on Saturday, and the jam ends at 10:00 AM my time), and hopefully by next time I'll have 5 rep (lol), but "just in case"... Anyway, gotta get back to work.

Almo

20:25

I wish I could star that one twice, Todders.

endrohat

@saadtaame can you find out what frameworks/libraries does the company use?

ToddersLegrande

Best part is I'm completely serious.

Almo

yeah that's what makes it awesome

endrohat

mite give u an advantage if u develop in that

Almo

2

Q: FormClosing not called when clicking Big Red X in the corner

I found this: Button with an X at the upper-right corner of the form, how to catch this event @ C# Which says I should use the FormClosing event to find out when the window is closing because of a click on the X. But my event code never gets called: private void MainWin_FormClosing(Object sen...

Notable question (2500 views) 2 upvotes. Heh.

saadtaame

20:27

@Almo No, but I can design algorithms and stuff from scratch. I'm not going to invent a game engine but the part othat will make the game run..

Almo

You don't need to make an engine to complete a project and have it look good.

Pick some engine off the shelf (or use the tools the company uses, as endrohat said) and make a complete game.

saadtaame

Any ideas for games?

endrohat

what all languages are you comfortable with?

Alex M.

@SalarianEngineer not a chance, it's a network-wide thing

saadtaame

C/ C++

Java

C is my favorite

Alex M.

20:31

@SalarianEngineer in case anyone wants to help engineer gain rep to participate in the jam, upvote this question

1

Q: Is it more efficient to encode rotation in a spritesheet or rotate at runtime?

I'm developing a game with JavaScript and HTML5 and I'm wondering about the performance implications of sprite rotations. There are two ways that I know to rotate a sprite: Rotate the actual sprite based on its rotational speed and velocity, as it travels along it's trajectory. Pre-compute the ...

javascript sprites html5 canvas spritesheet

GD.SE really isn't fit to hold a gamejam

a pity.

user4704

@SalarianEngineer You already have the reputation.

Alex M.

the site is so rigid and specialized it feels like it could break in any moment

user4704

And no, we can't get rid of the reputation required to post.

user4704

@saadtaame Pick the language you know best and make a project with it. That's helpful.

endrohat

you can probably try cocos 2D X. i haven't used it. but heard good reviews

user4704

20:33

But also, you should have a good understanding of basic programming concepts and computer issues.

Alex M.

make something with Unity

saadtaame

@JoshPetrie I'm a confident programmer, I need an idea

user4704

For example, a question that I ask interns in phone screens who "know C++" is: what is dynamic dispatch and why is it useful?

user4704

What sort of memory is in a computer?

saadtaame

registers, cash memory, ram

user4704

20:35

What do you think is the biggest difference between Java and C++?

user4704

Et cetera.

user4704

I'm going to lunch now.

saadtaame

Ok bon appetit :D

user4704

Having a good portfolio is good, but if you lack basic technical know-how that's bad.

saadtaame

Indeed, any project ideas @JoshPetrie?

ToddersLegrande

20:37

@saadtaame the key to completing a project is to work on something you personally find enjoyable, not something someone else thinks you should do

John McDonald

Idea for a game?

user4704

@saadtaame Something that interests you.

user4704

You are more likely to do that well.

user4704

If you have nothing that interests you, you have a problem.

saadtaame

@JohnMcDonald Yes for a game

@JoshPetrie What are you interested in?

ToddersLegrande

20:38

Josh likes Halo

user4704

It's usually pretty obvious when somebody turns in a portfolio piece that they wanted to do versus one that they thought would "look good."

ToddersLegrande

Obviously... :P

John McDonald

@saadtaame Surely you can find something interesting in the 48 themes we voted on for the game jam: meta.gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/1450/…

user4704

@saadtaame Tools and core technology.

ToddersLegrande

@JohnMcDonald all those themes are awful. Nothing useful in there.

Almo

20:42

I thought "Todders" was a GREAT theme. I even upvoted it.

saadtaame

I'm thinking of game where the user perspective (camera) is different than others

Almo

20:57

John McDonald

lol, nice

Almo

:D

ToddersLegrande

Does that actually happen? lol

Can't say I've seen something like that for a long long time

Alex M.

chrome does it too

even on my internet, depending on what server is feeding pics, something like 6000x6000 in size will not load completely

after a refresh, it will continue from where it stopped loading

pip didn't drop by today

John McDonald

21:19

odd

Alex M.

"While running the game on a 32-bit OS, here are the limits:
Texture Quality is limited to MEDIUM
Party Barks, Monster and ambient sounds are not available
Voice over is not available"

for M&MX

ToddersLegrande

Only so much you can squeeze into 3GB of RAM

Alex M.

New Snowden docs show Canadian spies tracked thousands of travelers
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/01/new-snowden-docs-show-canadian-spies-tracked-thousands-of-travelers/

it's alright guys

the Canadian spies only wanted to see what the travelers liked

they even sent them gifts according to their discoveries

Jon

alright... so i have a bunch of sets of 4 animations -- each having their left/right/up/down variation

In unity, in the animator -- how would you handle this, so that you could group the sets of 4 animations together

I'm just looking at these... and it is already starting to get ridiculous

Alex M.

uh what is that

is that something from 4.3?

Jon

21:29

yes

Alex M.

I wouldn't use that

I have no idea what

Jon

hmmm

Alex M.

I just wouldn't arrange blocks together

Jon

i just noticed the layers

Alex M.

►

Yxunomei's lair was a bitch to get through

I had no way to detect traps with my party

and all of them had unlimited shots

but the music kinda helped

it was too awesome so I'd never ragequit

Jon

21:33

hmmm

Alex M.

@Jon why are you using unity again?

Jon

learning it

Alex M.

Jon

If you had 4 directions of animation tiles for each action

at the moment, I created a seperate animation for each, which is what you should do

But now it messes up the states.. as Walk is now Walk1/Walk2/Walk3/Walk4

I guess instead of attaching animations to the controller, i'll do it in code

Alex M.

eeeyyyy now you're talking

Relationships and Dating Stack Exchange is shutting down on Monday, February 3rd. Read more on Meta.

lol it sure survived long

MickLH

21:49

hahahahahahahahahaha

hahahaahhaaaaaahhhhh hahahah oh man that existed?

Alex M.

yeah there was a ton of depressing shit there

This site has been in private beta for a bit over a week. In that time, it’s done some things rather nicely. The best questions and answers so far are questions of etiquette. It's been said that all etiquette boils down to applications of the golden rule, but learning what that actually means in specific situations can be a challenge. Answerers on this site put in a lot of effort to not just solve the problem but really understand the situation and take things into account. We have an excellent culture of answerers here.

a bit over a week

MickLH

Unfortunately, we don’t believe this site is going to work out.

;)

Alex M.

People are actively getting hurt in interactions across the site, either in the actual content production or in the related policy disputes.

as I said, there was a lot of depressing shit there

MickLH

I just think that concept was obviously bound to fail

It's like an optimal solution for coming up with the worst stack exchange possible

Alex M.

shit man I see people asking stuff on forums

and I always feel like replying with "Unfortunately your question is too broad."

MickLH

21:55

lol fuck forums

Alex M.

@MickLH lol

0

Q: How can I support different resolutions with Monogame?

I want to support the following 4 resolutions in my Windows Phone 8 game: 480 × 800, 768 × 1280, 720 × 1280, 1080 x 1920. How can I do that with Monogame? If I draw a sprite with Monogame, the sprite is not drawn on the right place in every resolution. For example, with a resolution of 768 × 1280...

xna c# monogame

lol at the guy from martinique

he sees the question is a duplicate

but he answers anyway to drop that signature

"LeSamGames"

MickLH

I want to flag it so bad

Alex M.

well do it

the question is clearly a duplicate

MickLH

I meant his answer lol

Alex M.

oh

why do you want to flag it?

except for the obvious

MickLH

21:58

just the obvious, I want to spam flag it but it does answer the question

Alex M.

jk

MickLH

my vaporizer keeps turning off automatically after so long, lol I wonder if it's meant for continuous operation

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