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• Looping 3D environment in shmups

  - by kamziro

  So I was watching Ikaruga: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj23K8Ri68E And then raystorm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ4V0G5ykAg After looking at their 3D backgrounds for a little bit, it appears that they use a lot of repeated segments. How would one start with the development with such systems? Would there be editors that can be used (or at least help) with creating the environments? Perhaps a 3D map with splines describing the path of the ship, as well as events on the splines?

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• Which is a better practice - helper methods as instance or static?

  - by Ilian Pinzon

  This question is subjective but I was just curious how most programmers approach this. The sample below is in pseudo-C# but this should apply to Java, C++, and other OOP languages as well. Anyway, when writing helper methods in my classes, I tend to declare them as static and just pass the fields if the helper method needs them. For example, given the code below, I prefer to use Method Call #2. class Foo { Bar _bar; public void DoSomethingWithBar() { // Method Call #1. DoSomethingWithBarImpl(); // Method Call #2. DoSomethingWithBarImpl(_bar); } private void DoSomethingWithBarImpl() { _bar.DoSomething(); } private static void DoSomethingWithBarImpl(Bar bar) { bar.DoSomething(); } } My reason for doing this is that it makes it clear (to my eyes at least) that the helper method has a possible side-effect on other objects - even without reading its implementation. I find that I can quickly grok methods that use this practice and thus help me in debugging things. Which do you prefer to do in your own code and what are your reasons for doing so?

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• What is the best wrapping strategy ?

  - by Riduidel

  Hi, I'm planning to integrate an external tool (ffmpeg in my particular case, but it could be anything, in fact, as lolng as its tasks are long running ones). This tool has a lot of command-line parameters. For now, I've done to simple things with it, already requiring me a good bunch of class writing, to embed all the information it can return to me. I now face the even more complex task of having to send it a bunch of parameters and to handle possible errors. So, what is a best way for that ? Create classes containing all possible options Relying upon a reverse equivalent of commons-cli / CliBuilder / OptionParser Directly write all options from user input Obiwan Kenobi powers (or anything I don't even know about) Please notice I do it in an uncommon language (for the sake of me, don't ask me what it is, as it looks like a desperate and sterile union between CoffeeScript and lua), as a consequence, there can be no framework doing what I want in the language I use.

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• Single or multiple return statements in a function [on hold]

  - by Juan Carlos Coto

  When writing a function that can have several different return values, particularly when different branches of code return different values, what is the cleanest or sanest way of returning? Please note the following are really contrived examples meant only to illustrate different styles. Example 1: Single return def my_function(): if some_condition: return_value = 1 elif another_condition: return_value = 2 else: return_value = 3 return return_value Example 2: Multiple returns def my_function(): if some_condition: return 1 elif another_condition: return 2 else: return 3 The second example seems simpler and is perhaps more readable. The first one, however, might describe the overall logic a bit better (the conditions affect the assignment of the value, not whether it's returned or not). Is the second way preferable to the first? Why?

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• MMORPG game balancing

  - by Gary Paluk

  I've seen a couple of examples of some game balancing techniques in books yet they are not comprehensive and not particularly aimed at MMORPGs but I'm looking for practical examples of game balancing techniques for MMORPGs. I am interested to know if anyone has documented the techniques used in popular games with proven success in this area. Ideally, any resource would cover most common types of stats and include layman mathematical models or techniques used to balance game mechanics found in advanced MMORPGs (I know it's a cliché, but WoW style) Any help would be great!

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• What should a game have in order to keep humans playing it?

  - by Adam Davis

  In many entertainment professions there suggestions, loose rules, or general frameworks one follows that appeal to humans in one way or another. For instance, many movies and books follow the monomyth. In video games I find many types of games that attract people in different ways. Some are addicted to facebook gem matching games. Others can't get enough of FPS games. Once in awhile, though, you find a game that seems to transcend stereotypes and appeals almost immediately to everyone that plays it. For instance, Plants Versus Zombies seems to have a very, very large demographic of players. There are other games similar in reach. I'm curious what books, blogs, etc there are that explore these game types and styles, and tries to suss out one or more popular frameworks/styles that satisfy people, while keeping them coming back for more.

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• Why do programming languages allow shadowing/hiding of variables and functions?

  - by Simon

  Many of the most popular programming languges (such as C++, Java, Python etc.) have the concept of hiding / shadowing of variables or functions. When I've encountered hiding or shadowing they have been the cause of hard to find bugs and I've never seen a case where I found it necessary to use these features of the languages. To me it would seem better to disallow hiding and shadowing. Does anybody know of a good use of these concepts?

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• Should I cache the data or hit the database?

  - by JD01

  I have not worked with any caching mechanisms and was wondering what my options are in the .net world for the following scenario. We basically have a a REST Service where the user passes an ID of a Category (think folder) and this category may have lots of sub categories and each of the sub categories could have 1000 of media containers (think file reference objects) which contain information about a file that may be on a NAS or SAN server (files are videos in this case). The relationship between these categories is stored in a database together with some permission rules and meta data about the sub categories. So from a UI perspective we have a lazy loaded tree control which is driven by the user by clicking on each sub folder (think of Windows explorer). Once they come to a URL of the video file, they then can watch the video. The number of users could grow into the 1000s and the sub categories and videos could be in the 10000s as the system grows. The question is should we carry on the way it is currently working where each request hits the database or should we think about caching the data? We are on using IIS 6/7 and Asp.net.

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• Making Class Diagram for MVC Pattern Project

  - by iMohammad

  I have a question about making a class diagram for an MVC based college senior project. If we have 2 actors of users in my system, lets say Undergrad and Graduate students are the children of abstract class called User. (Generalisation) Each actor has his own features. My question, in such case, do we need to have these two actors in separate classes which inherits from the abstract class User? even though, I'm going to implement them as roles using one Model called User Model ? I think you can see my confusion here. I code using MVC pattern, but I've never made a class diagram for this pattern. Thank you in advance!

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• Breakout ball collision detection, bouncing against the walls [solved]

  - by Sri Harsha Chilakapati

  I'm currently trying to program a breakout game to distribute it as an example game for my own game engine. http://game-engine-for-java.googlecode.com/ But the problem here is that I can't get the bouncing condition working properly. Here's what I'm using. public void collision(GObject other){ if (other instanceof Bat || other instanceof Block){ bounce(); } else if (other instanceof Stone){ other.destroy(); bounce(); } //Breakout.HIT.play(); } And here's by bounce() method public void bounce(){ boolean left = false; boolean right = false; boolean up = false; boolean down = false; if (dx < 0) { left = true; } else if (dx > 0) { right = true; } if (dy < 0) { up = true; } else if (dy > 0) { down = true; } if (left && up) { dx = -dx; } if (left && down) { dy = -dy; } if (right && up) { dx = -dx; } if (right && down) { dy = -dy; } } The ball bounces the bat and blocks but when the block is on top of the ball, it won't bounce and moves upwards out of the game. What I'm missing? Is there anything to implement? Please help me.. Thanks EDIT: Have changed the bounce method. public void bounce(GObject other){ //System.out.println("y : " + getY() + " other.y + other.height - 2 : " + (other.getY() + other.getHeight() - 2)); if (getX()+getWidth()>other.getX()+2){ setHorizontalDirection(Direction.DIRECTION_RIGHT); } else if (getX()<(other.getX()+other.getWidth()-2)){ setHorizontalDirection(Direction.DIRECTION_LEFT); } if (getY()+getHeight()>other.getY()+2){ setVerticalDirection(Direction.DIRECTION_UP); } else if (getY()<(other.getY()+other.getHeight()-2)){ setVerticalDirection(Direction.DIRECTION_DOWN); } } EDIT: Solved now. See the changed method in my answer.

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• Collaboration platforms

  - by Thomas

  Are there any good collaboration platforms for game development? This would include the following features: Easy way to find various people you need to build games (programmer, artist etc) and forming a team like for example codeplex Online portfolio for users where they can offer their services (either paid or free) Posibility to create a game specific blog or site with social media integration to show the world what's being created Easy way to manage game content / resources with sufficient online storage, version control and if possible source control Manage all phases of game development (startup, creating concept, finding a team, creating proof of concept, production phase etc) and publish specific information for each phase also on social media etc. Manage asset creation flow (request for specific content like a sound, production of sound, uploading the sound, notification to the requester, implementation of the file, retouching in several cycles etc)

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• Searching for entity awareness in 3D space algorithm and data structure

  - by Khanser

  I'm trying to do some huge AI system just for the fun and I've come to this problem. How can I let the AI entities know about each other without getting the CPU to perform redundant and costly work? Every entity has a spatial awareness zone and it has to know what's inside when it has to decide what to do. First thoughts, for every entity test if the other entities are inside the first's reach. Ok, so it was the first try and yep, that is redundant and costly. We are working with real time AI over 10000+ entities so this is not a solution. Second try, calculate some grid over the awareness zone of every entity and test whether in this zones are entities (we are working with 3D entities with float x,y,z location coordinates) testing every point in the grid with the indexed-by-coordinate entities. Well, I don't like this because is also costly, but not as the first one. Third, create some multi linked lists over the x's and y's indexed positions of the entities so when we search for an interval between x,y and z,w positions (this interval defines the square over the spatial awareness zone) over the multi linked list, we won't have 'voids'. This has the problem of finding the nearest proximity value if there isn't one at the position where we start the search. I'm not convinced with any of the ideas so I'm searching for some enlightening. Do you people have any better ideas?

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• How to do thread management in C++?

  - by Dipan Mehta

  We use pthread for thread management in C based systems. pthread is in general compilable by C++ compiler (like g++). However, what are the better ways of abstractions for threads in C++? Also, for making any system to be working in a multi-threaded system, it is also important to make thread safe. What are the standard libraries that requires alternative (installs) to be thread safe or are they unsafe for multi-threaded environments? Is smart pointers, templates require special measures to make it safe? What are the best practices for the thread managements in C++?

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• Service Layer - how broad should it be, and should it be used also on the local application?

  - by BornToCode

  Background: I need to build a main application with some operations (CRUD and more) (-in winforms), I need to make another application which will re-use some of the functions of the main application (-in webforms). I understood that using service layer is the best approach here. If I understood correctly the service should be calling the function on the BL layer (correct me if I'm wrong) The dilemma: In my main winform UI - should I call the functions from the BL, or from the service? (please explain why) Should I create a service for every single function on the BL even if I need some of the functions only in one UI? for example - should I create services for all the CRUD operations, even though I need to re-use only update operation in the webform? YOUR HELP IS MUCH APPRECIATED

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• Pattern for performing game actions

  - by Arkiliknam

  Is there a generally accepted pattern for performing various actions within a game? A way a player can perform actions and also that an AI might perform actions, such as move, attack, self-destruct, etc. I currently have an abstract BaseAction which uses .NET generics to specify the different objects that get returned by the various actions. This is all implemented in a pattern similar to the Command, where each action is responsible for itself and does all that it needs. My reasoning for being abstract is so that I may have a single ActionHandler, and AI can just queue up different action implementing the baseAction. And the reason it is generic is so that the different actions can return result information relevant to the action (as different actions can have totally different outcomes in the game), along with some common beforeAction and afterAction implementations. So... is there a more accepted way of doing this, or does this sound alright?

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• Where to Start?

  - by freemann098

  my name is Chase. I've been programming for over 3 years now and I've made very little progress towards game development. I blame myself for it due to reasons. I have experience in many languages such as C++, C#, and Java. I have a little bit of knowledge in JavaScript/HTML and Python. My question is where to start on actually understanding jumping into game development. Whenever I watch game development tutorials it mostly makes sense until points of things like OpenGL or advanced topics that make no sense at all. An example is something like glOrhho Matrix or whatever. Videos either don't explain things like this or they're not explained very well. Do I not know enough basics? I find myself always copying code from a video but understanding very little of it. It's like i'm memorizing things I don't understand which makes it hard to program at all. If I were to want to get to the point where I could write my own game engine or just a game by myself in general in C++ using at the most documentation how would I start at mastering to that level. Should I learn C first, or get really good at basics in general with C++. I know there is a similar posted question on this site but it's not the same due to the fact the person asking the question has a well knowledge level in programming. I'm stuck in a loop of learning the same things but if I go farther I don't understand. I'm stuck in the same spot and need to make progress.

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• What cars on roads game engines are there?

  - by David Thielen

  What game engines are there that support laying out a map of roads and handle vehicle movement on the roads. Something similar to the basic functionality in Transport Tycoon/Locomotion. I don't care about looks (although prettier is better) and top down or isometric is fine. I just need a simple way to create maps and move cars on it. And preferably the cars do take time to speed up and slow down as they go from stopped to full speed. Prefer in Windows (any API in Windows). I also prefer a free engine as this is just for internal use. I have found CarDriving 2D - does anyone know if it works well?

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• Any technical references for game-oriented icons and symbols?

  - by willc2

  To make localizing easier, I'm using icons to show in-game information like achievements and bonuses. Coming up with good designs isn't easy, especially when it has to be integrated into the rest of the game's art style. Can I do better than looking at some random selection of existing games? Are there any reference books or sites that cover game graphics specifically? I'm looking for more theory and best-practices rather than pre-made graphics.

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• Methods of ordering function definitions in code

  - by xralf

  When I work on some programming project (usually command line application in Python with many switches), I'm usually creating about 30 and more functions. Most of the functions are in one file (except some helpers that I utilize in more projects). Some of the functions are called on particular switch (like -p or --print) but many functions do some helper computations, print operations or database operations because I don't want to main functions be too large. When I have an idea for a new functionality I often put new functions randomly to the file. Should I think more about it and place it to some particular place? Are there some methods for this?

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• How should I handle "real time" events in an online strategy game?

  - by Hojat Taheri

  Some online strategy games have real time events. For example when you send troops to attack somewhere, the attack happens at the right time in the future. Checking the database again and again to get the list of attacks happening each second would cause heavy load. Is there any technique to achieve this goal? Another example: You want to attack a village 3 hours away, you send troops and the attack occurs 3 hours later. Should there be an script to check the database at each second to run the query at the specified time?

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• When module calling gets ugly

  - by Pete

  Has this ever happened to you? You've got a suite of well designed, single-responsibility modules, covered by unit tests. In any higher-level function you code, you are (95% of the code) simply taking output from one module and passing it as input to the next. Then, you notice this higher-level function has turned into a 100+ line script with multiple responsibilities. Here is the problem. It is difficult (impossible) to test that script. At least, it seems so. Do you agree? In my current project, all of the bugs came from this script. Further detail: each script represents a unique solution, or algorithm, formed by using different modules in different ways. Question: how can you remedy this situation? Knee-jerk answer: break the script up into single-responsibility modules. Comment on knee-jerk answer: it already is! Best answer I can come up with so far: create higher-level connector objects which "wire" modules together in particular ways (take output from one module, feed it as input to another module). Thus if our script was: FooInput fooIn = new FooInput(1, 2); FooOutput fooOutput = fooModule(fooIn); Double runtimevalue = getsomething(fooOutput.whatever); BarInput barIn = new BarInput( runtimevalue, fooOutput.someOtherValue); BarOutput barOut = barModule(BarIn); It would become with a connector: FooBarConnectionAlgo fooBarConnector = new fooBarConnector(fooModule, barModule); FooInput fooIn = new FooInput(1, 2); BarOutput barOut = fooBarConnector(fooIn); So the advantage is, besides hiding some code and making things clearer, we can test FooBarConnectionAlgo. I'm sure this situation comes up a lot. What do you do?

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• Of which bad practice is require calling functions in order a sign?

  - by stijn

  Sometimes I find myself writing comments on class methods like this: class A : public Base { public: /** * Sets variable; * should be called before ImplementsInterfaceMtehod(), * else has no effect. */ void SetSomeVariable( var_type value ); virtual void ImplementsInterfaceMethod(); } The callers of Base::ImplementsInterfaceMethod obviously do not know about the variable, and should not. But the users of A should set the variable if they want it to take effect. It is not required to set the variable (else it could be a parameter for the constructor), so I cannot throw exceptions in ImplementsInterfaceMethod if it is not set. Is this a sign of some typical bad practice? Is there a better way than writing a comment as shown to deal with this?

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• Trying to find a recent - PHP book - that utilizes SOLID principles! [closed]

  - by darga33

  Pulling my hair out! I have heard of Martin Fowler's book PoEAA and the other book Head First OOA OOD but those are not in PHP. I desperately want to read them, but ONLY in PHP utilizing the - SOLID acronym - principles! Does anyone know of the absolute best, most recent PHP book that utilizes the SOLID principles and GRASP, and all the other best practices? I want to learn from the best possible source! Not beginner books! I already understand OOP. This seems like an almost impossible question to find the answer to and so I thought, hey, might as well post on stackexchange!! Surely someone out there must know!!!!!!!!!! Or if noone happens to know, Maybe they know of an open source application that utilizes these principles that is relatively small that is not a framework. Something that I can go through every single class, and spend time understanding the insides and outs of how the program was developed. Thanks so much in advance! I really really really really appreciate it! Well it looks like we aren't supposed to ask about best books, so nevermind this question! Sorry about that!

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• Should I limit my type name suffix vocabulary when using OOP?

  - by Den

  My co-workers tend to think that it is better to limit non-domain type suffixes to a small fixed set of OOP-pattern inspired words, e.g.: *Service *Repository *Factory *Manager *Provider I believe there is no reason to not extend that set with more names, e.g. (some "translation" to the previous vocabulary is given in brackets): *Distributor (= *DistributionManager or *SendingService) *Generator *Browser (= *ReadonlyRepositoryService) *Processor *Manipulator (= *StateMachineManager) *Enricher (= *EnrichmentService) (*) denotes some domain word, e.g. "Order", "Student", "Item" etc. The domain is probably not complex enough to use specialized approaches such as DDD which could drive the naming.

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• How to make an Actor follow my finger

  - by user48352

  I'm back with another question that may be really simple. I've a texture drawn on my spritebatch and I'm making it move up or down (y-axis only) with Libgdx's Input Handler: touchDown and touchUp. @Override public boolean touchDown(int screenX, int screenY, int pointer, int button) { myWhale.touchDownY = screenY; myWhale.isTouched = true; return true; } @Override public boolean touchUp(int screenX, int screenY, int pointer, int button) { myWhale.isTouched = false; return false; } myWhale is an object from Whale Class where I move my texture position: public void update(float delta) { this.delta = delta; if(isTouched){ dragWhale(); } } public void dragWhale() { if(Gdx.input.getY(0) - touchDownY < 0){ if(Gdx.input.getY(0)<position.y+height/2){ position.y = position.y - velocidad*delta; } } else{ if(Gdx.input.getY(0)>position.y+height/2){ position.y = position.y + velocidad*delta; } } } So the object moves to the center of the position where the person is pressing his/her finger and most of the time it works fine but the object seems to take about half a second to move up or down and sometimes when I press my finger it wont move. Maybe there's another simplier way to do this. I'd highly appreciate if someone points me on the right direction.

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