I wrote a fairly long article on TL for their new KnowHow section. As to what the KnowHow section is, it doesn't really matter. I however did want to share the article with you fellow SENers as I'm sure someone will find it pretty interesting.
LINKIt's an article devoted to trying to provide a "primer" into professional game development. I tried to craft the article in such a way that even non-programmers can glean much from it.
Excerpt from Intro
Before my studies at university I had spent a good deal of time trying to learn what it is like to create a piece of useful software from scratch. I spent many hours studying the basics of programming such as control structures, program design and even abstract data types. I however was hardpressed to find any high-level information on how to piece together the smaller tools of programming in order to make a project of my own. This article aims at bridging the gap between the realm of a beginning programmer, straight into and through the intermediate level.
There will be very little actual code examples throughout the article, and this is intentional; by providing a higher level summary I can keep the article concise (I can’t write an entire novel inside of a KnowHow!). In doing so I can summarize and present many explanations and concepts that are essential to understand in order to progress as a programmer in a very clear and unified manner. I’d like for even non-programmers to be able to skim through the article and find interest in the ideas and concepts presented. In a way you can expect this entire article to be a firehose of information. If a reader hasn’t be introduced to many of the concepts presented here, he will surely return again and again as much information will not be fully gleaned in a single read-through.
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Find Me On Discord (Brood War UMS Community & Staredit Network)
So THIS is why Lost Souls got put on the backburner.
Yeh I'm reading this but I do agree about the gaming as a hobby thing and in fact I think that is what programmers should actually be investing their time in.
You're new to the game Cecil but you're also the next generation of programmer and "I" as a measley 'game player and game designer (OK calling myself a game designer is probably over the top but that's what we do when we map)' would really like to see programs that utilise this creation aspect.
That is where all the longevity of games comes from not the game itself but the ability for the 'lay man' to mod the game, make their own maps in the game, etc. Give people user friendly tools and someone with no programming experience at all (like me, like many other mappers) can create their own awesome game, within the confines of the engine.
Minecraft went huge for exactly this reason I think.
Eventually this is the way I see the games industry going, programmers not making games, but making game-creators - so user-friendly that it becomes as easy to make a game as it is to write a book.
What I want to see in the future is SCMDRAFT on a much grander scale, and I hope the next generation of programmers (that's YOU buddy) can make this a reality.
Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Nov 19 2012, 11:13 pm by Oh_Man.
So THIS is why Lost Souls got put on the backburner.
Yeh I'm reading this but I do agree about the gaming as a hobby thing and in fact I think that is what programmers should actually be investing their time in.
You're new to the game Cecil but you're also the next generation of programmer and "I" as a measley 'game player and game designer (OK calling myself a game designer is probably over the top but that's what we do when we map)' would really like to see programs that utilise this creation aspect.
That is where all the longevity of games comes from not the game itself but the ability for the 'lay man' to mod the game, make their own maps in the game, etc. Give people user friendly tools and someone with no programming experience at all (like me, like many other mappers) can create their own awesome game, within the confines of the engine.
Minecraft went huge for exactly this reason I think.
Eventually this is the way I see the games industry going, programmers not making games, but making game-creators - so user-friendly that it becomes as easy to make a game as it is to write a book.
What I want to see in the future is SCMDRAFT on a much grander scale, and I hope the next generation of programmers (that's YOU buddy) can make this a reality.
Thanks for the nice post! I really do agree; longevity of games relies on more and more content. A game that is static is one that will be much less likely to be great. Imagine Brood War without a map editor. It would be the exact same as every other RTS that doesn't come to your mind when you think of "Older RTS games".
I'll do the best I can to release editors with the current game I'm working on
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Uhm, what?
You guys are just turning a blind eye to games that have gone competitive or something? Like Brood War itself? There are tons of static content games like Demon's Souls/Dark Souls, tons of puzzle and logic games, first person shooters, other RPGs, fighting games, etc.
Making a game that can be extended easily by user content only goes so far. It depends entirely on how well designed the original game is. Otherwise, all you are doing is making a babby's first engine or sandbox, which appeals to a much smaller subset of players.
Uhm, what?
You guys are just turning a blind eye to games that have gone competitive or something? Like Brood War itself? There are tons of static content games like Demon's Souls/Dark Souls, tons of puzzle and logic games, first person shooters, other RPGs, fighting games, etc.
Making a game that can be extended easily by user content only goes so far. It depends entirely on how well designed the original game is. Otherwise, all you are doing is making a babby's first engine or sandbox, which appeals to a much smaller subset of players.
Couldn't have gone competitive without a map editor
Brood War is only a very balanced game because of korean map makers making maps for 1vs1 play that is fair.
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PyMS and ProTRG developer
It seems more like a primer to programming than to game programming. The Game Engine Architecture section is only like 10% of the information and the rest is mostly general programming stuff. Of course all the "general programming stuff" will be used in your game programming, but I think you should cut most of that stuff out and put it into a "Primer for Programming" that is linked to in the intro, then expand more on the game programming concepts.
I also agree with the reply on TL about how you don't mention profiling at all in the optimization section.
And if anyone wonders I am a Software Architect and have made lots of games/programs/apps over the years
It seems more like a primer to programming than to game programming. The Game Engine Architecture section is only like 10% of the information and the rest is mostly general programming stuff. Of course all the "general programming stuff" will be used in your game programming, but I think you should cut most of that stuff out and put it into a "Primer for Programming" that is linked to in the intro, then expand more on the game programming concepts.
I also agree with the reply on TL about how you don't mention profiling at all in the optimization section.
And if anyone wonders I am a Software Architect and have made lots of games/programs/apps over the years
Oh I agree with him too
It's just that particular guy posts in all my programming related threads and his highly opinionated and annoying. Thanks for posting qwert.
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