71–79 of 79 posts
I think that watching a five minute video like this of my day before I went home would be more motivating than reviewing my Rescue Time statistics.
The main takeaway for me is don't get into long coding sessions. Test often.
Source code: http://www.mojang.com/compo/metagun/metagun-source.zip (linked from http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-18/?action=preview... ) I compiled (yucky) with (after unzip + mkdir build ): javac -cp build src/com/mojang/metagun/{entity,level,screen,}/*.java -d build/ cp {src,build}/com/mojang/metagun/screen/exposition.txt jar -cf app.jar -C build . -C res . You need some html to run an applet; App.html ju…
I've also heard of some bitmap-as-data atrocities. A colleague who worked with an engine from a certain well known single player RPG described how bitmaps were used in that engine to control animation states. Like, if walking and getting hit, which animation takes priority. There are as many ways to implement that system as there are game developers. For some reason this developer elected to store those matrices as BMP files, and edit them using a paint program.
The bitmap as level trick is a great shortcut for prototyping and rapid development, perfect for this contest. But I can't imagine the thought process that led to using one for animation data.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just wanted to present a warning about Minecraft: That game is distilled binary crack. I have lost a couple of entire days to the damned thing, and I only purchased it a couple of weeks ago. So just be careful if you try it out. I'm a recovering Minecraftoholic.
Off topic, but I also purchased it and just don't get it. Or is that part of the appeal? I can't decide since I do spend time with it but more trying to work out wtf I'm meant to do :-)
Beyond that - there aren't really any goals. It's a huge sandbox. However, there may be some depth you're missing:
- There are some 'toys' to play with - minetrains, for one. You can build tracks and minecarts - unpowered and powered.
- If you dig deep enough, you can get redstone, which can be used to simulate electrical circuits. There's a whole thread on the Minecraft forum with basic constructs like OR / AND / XOR / etc - people have built things as complex as a twelve-hour clock (although it doesn't keep time accurately because there's no way to synch time - but it is as close as could be made and does function in the sense that it accurately counts 60 seconds, 60 minutes, twelve hours...) - I also saw a turing machine being worked on, as well as a few other similar devices. VERY complex stuff, considering.
- People have developed cannons
The more basic activities include finding caves and exploring them...
But there's some great silly stuff - like you can make a saddle and go ride pigs.
Is any of that stuff you've missed that sounds interesting? I hope so.
I suppose it's a game that might appeal more to younger folks - but as a 35-year-old, I love it. But I always loved SimCity, Simutrans (a freeware transportation simulator. Disclaimer: I'm the "Benevolent Dictator" of the International forum, and provide much of the hosting)... I also played GTA:SA, but not really the official missions - I just drove around and made it my own sandbox... Flight simulators...
All in all, I don't so much like games as I do simulated environments... so Minecraft is right up my alley.
I seem to miss such contests most of the time and only hear about them when they ended. I would love to attend to some, just for the fun (because I don't know if I would have any chance to actually win). Where would be a good source for such competitions? Another fun competition I read about was the Super Mario AI competition in 2009 where the winner has succeeded with an A* algorithm which he presented in a nice vid…
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3561301/overview-and-news...
Source code: http://www.mojang.com/compo/metagun/metagun-source.zip (linked from http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-18/?action=preview... ) I compiled (yucky) with (after unzip + mkdir build ): javac -cp build src/com/mojang/metagun/{entity,level,screen,}/*.java -d build/ cp {src,build}/com/mojang/metagun/screen/exposition.txt jar -cf app.jar -C build . -C res . You need some html to run an applet; App.html ju…
I've seen the bitmap to level trick used before, but most "normal" (not developed under severe time constraints) games would eventually have a level editor implemented alongside the game. Personally, I'd be more likely in this situation to implement it as a text file and edit it with emacs picture-mode. I've also heard of some bitmap-as-data atrocities. A colleague who worked with an engine from a certain well known…
At least he was using a data-driven approach. There's a lot to be said for that (as opposed to coding it), provided you can find a good representation. As Brooks ~ said "show me your flowcharts and I will continue to be mystified; but show me your tables and all will be clear." He's talking about communicating it to another, but a (appropriate...) data-driven approach is also more flexible, simpler and easier to reason about, because it embodies an abstraction and isomorphism of the solution space. Of course, if it turns out insufficiently rich, you'll wish it was code (or at least that it can be supplemented with code.)
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I don't think I would undertake a 48h programming contest with a single screen.
Yeah, he has 3 monitors and a Cintiq.. http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2010/08/21/getting-started-he...
Here's the sound effect program he was using, btw:
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've seen the bitmap to level trick used before, but most "normal" (not developed under severe time constraints) games would eventually have a level editor implemented alongside the game. Personally, I'd be more likely in this situation to implement it as a text file and edit it with emacs picture-mode. I've also heard of some bitmap-as-data atrocities. A colleague who worked with an engine from a certain well known…
emacs picture-mode would be handy, otherwise it's difficult to maintain fixed-width. In practice, I have a lot of trouble with it. I think huge maps (those 10x10 ones) could be a problem, simply due to size; paint programs have zoom as standard, and of course the natural size for a pixel is pixel-size. Though I'm certain emacs has arbitrary zoom-mode. At least he was using a data-driven approach. There's a lot to be…
You resize the cells to make them square, insert a formula that will rewrite all cells from a given row into a single string (so you could then just copy a column with those strings and paste directly into Notepad, or something), and then you can use convenient navigation with arrows, tab and ENTER to create the map (also filling entire row or column by one mouse drag was handy). Moreover, if you add "conditional formatting", you can make all different tiles appear with different colors and font styles (like walls with dark background or pickups colored in gold, green, etc.). It's a 2-minutes-to-do, poor's man map editor for tileset-based games :).