Search Results

Search found 25952 results on 1039 pages for 'development lifecycle'.

Page 404/1039 | < Previous Page | 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411  | Next Page >

  • Moving Character in C# XNA Not working

    - by Matthew Stenquist
    I'm having trouble trying to get my character to move for a game I'm making in my sparetime for the Xbox. However, I can't seem to figure out what I'm doing wrong , and I'm not even sure if I'm doing it right. I've tried googling tutorials on this but I haven't found any helpful ones. Mainly, ones on 3d rotation on the XNA creators club website. My question is : How can I get the character to walk towards the right in the MoveInput() function? What am I doing wrong? Did I code it wrong? The problem is : The player isn't moving. I think the MoveInput() class isn't working. Here's my code from my character class : using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input; namespace Jumping { class Character { Texture2D texture; Vector2 position; Vector2 velocity; int velocityXspeed = 2; bool jumping; public Character(Texture2D newTexture, Vector2 newPosition) { texture = newTexture; position = newPosition; jumping = true; } public void Update(GameTime gameTime) { JumpInput(); MoveInput(); } private void MoveInput() { //Move Character right GamePadState gamePad1 = GamePad.GetState(PlayerIndex.One); velocity.X = velocity.X + (velocityXspeed * gamePad1.ThumbSticks.Right.X); } private void JumpInput() { position += velocity; if (GamePad.GetState(PlayerIndex.One).Buttons.A == ButtonState.Pressed && jumping == false) { position.Y -= 1f; velocity.Y = -5f; jumping = true; } if (jumping == true) { float i = 1.6f; velocity.Y += 0.15f * i; } if (position.Y + texture.Height >= 1000) jumping = false; if (jumping == false) velocity.Y = 0f; } public void Draw(SpriteBatch spriteBatch) { spriteBatch.Draw(texture, position, Color.White); } } }

    Read the article

  • DirectWrite Producing Strange Artifacts?

    - by smoth190
    I've written the basis to my UI system around Direct2D. I like it because it's fast and easy to use (even if I had to do some messy work to get it to work with DirectX11). However, I notice when using DirectWrite I'm getting strange problems with my text. As you can see, the e is a little screwwed up, and it overall looks a little bumpy. This only happens with certain fonts in certain sizes, and with certain arrangements of letters. This particular example is Verdana in size 16.0 font. Can I fix this? It's pretty annoying to change all my words and fonts because of this problem.

    Read the article

  • How do I make my rain effect look more like rain and less like snowfall?

    - by Nikhil Lamba
    I am making a game in that game I want a rain effect. I am little bit far from this right now. I am creating the rain effect like below: particleSystem.addParticleInitializer(new ColorInitializer(1, 1, 1)); particleSystem.addParticleInitializer(new AlphaInitializer(0)); particleSystem.setBlendFunction(GL10.GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL10.GL_ONE); particleSystem.addParticleInitializer(new VelocityInitializer(2, 2, 20, 10)); particleSystem.addParticleInitializer(new RotationInitializer(0.0f, 30.0f)); particleSystem.addParticleModifier(new ScaleModifier(1.0f, 2.0f, 0, 150)); particleSystem.addParticleModifier(new ColorModifier(1, 1, 1, 1f, 1, 1, 1, 3)); particleSystem.addParticleModifier(new ColorModifier(1, 1, 1f, 1, 1, 1, 1, 6)); particleSystem.addParticleModifier(new AlphaModifier(0, 1, 0, 3)); particleSystem.addParticleModifier(new AlphaModifier(1, 0, 1, 125)); particleSystem.addParticleModifier(new ExpireModifier(50, 50)); scene.attachChild(particleSystem); But it looks like snowfall! What changes can I do for it to look more like rain? EDIT Here is a screenshot:

    Read the article

  • Which are the cons of using only non-member functions and POD?

    - by Miro
    I'm creating my own game engine. I've read these articles and this question about DOD and it was written to not use member functions and classes. I also heard some criticism to this idea. I can write it using member functions or non-member functions it would be similar. So what are the benefits/cons of that approach or when the project grows, does any of these approaches give clearer and better manageable code? With POD & non-member functions I don't have to make struct members public I can still use object id outside of engine like OpenGL does with all it's stuff, so It's not about encapsulation. POD - plain old data DOD - data oriented design

    Read the article

  • XNA - Finding boundaries in isometric tilemap

    - by Yheeky
    I have an issue with my 2D isometric engine. I'm using my own 2D camera class which works with matrices and need to find the tilemaps boundaries so the user always sees the map. Currently my map size is 100x100 (with 128x128 tiles) so the calculation (e.g. for the right boundary) is: var maxX = (TileMap.MapWidth + 1) * (TileMap.TileWidth / 2) - ViewSize.X; var maxX = (100 + 1) * (128 / 2) - 1360; // = 5104 pixels. This works fine while having scale factor of 1.0f but not for any other zoom factor. When I zoom out to 0.9f the right border should be at approx. 4954. I´m using the following code for transformation but I always get a wrong value: var maxXVector = new Vector2(maxX, 0); var maxXTransformed = Vector2.Transform(maxXVector, tempTransform).X; The result is 4593. Does anyone of you have an idea what I´m during wrong? Thanks for your help! Yheeky

    Read the article

  • A star algorithm implementation problems

    - by bryan226
    I’m having some trouble implementing the A* algorithm in a 2D tile based game. The problem is basically that the algorithm gets stuck when something gets in its direct way (e.g. walls) Note that it only allows Horizontal and Vertical movement. Here's a picture as it works fine across the map without something in its direct way: (Green tile = destination, Blue = In closed list, Green = in open list) This is what happens if I try to walk 'around' a wall: I calculate costs with the F = G + H formula: G = 1 Cost per Step H = 10 Cost per Step //Count how many tiles are between current-tile & destination-tile The functions: short c_astar::GuessH(short Startx,short Starty,short Destinationx,short Destinationy) { hgeVector Start, Destination; Start.x = Startx; Start.y = Starty; Destination.x = Destinationx; Destination.y = Destinationy; short a = 0; short b = 0; if(Start.x > Destination.x) a = Start.x - Destination.x; else a = Destination.x - Start.x; if(Start.y > Destination.y) b = Start.y - Destination.y; else b = Destination.y - Start.y; return (a+b)*10; } short c_astar::GuessG(short Startx,short Starty,short Currentx,short Currenty) { hgeVector Start, Destination; Start.x = Startx; Start.y = Starty; Destination.x = Currentx; Destination.y = Currenty; short a = 0; short b = 0; if(Start.x > Destination.x) a = Start.x - Destination.x; else a = Destination.x - Start.x; if(Start.y > Destination.y) b = Start.y - Destination.y; else b = Destination.y - Start.y; return (a+b); } At the end of the loop I check which tile is the cheapest to go according to its F value: Then some quick checks are done for each tile (UP,DOWN,LEFT,RIGHT): //...CX are holding the F value of the TILE specified // Info: C0 = Center (Current) // C1 = UP // C2 = DOWN // C3 = LEFT // C4 = RIGHT //Quick checks if(((C1 < C2) && (C1 < C3) && (C1 < C4))) { Current.y -= 1; bSimilar = false; if(DEBUG) hge->System_Log("C1 < ALL"); } //.. same for C2,C3 & C4 If there are multiple tiles with the same F value: It’s actually a switch for DOWNLEFT,UPRIGHT.. etc. Here’s one of it: case UPRIGHT: { //UP Temporary = Current; Temporary.y -= 1; bTileStatus[0] = IsTileWalkable(Temporary.x,Temporary.y); if(bTileStatus[0]) { //Proceed normal we are OK & walkable Tilex.Tile = map.at(Temporary.y).at(Temporary.x); //Search in lists if(SearchInClosedList(Tilex.Tile.ID,C0)) bFoundInClosedList[0] = true; if(SearchInOpenList(Tilex.Tile.ID,C0)) bFoundInOpenList[0] = true; //RIGHT Temporary = Current; Temporary.x += 1; bTileStatus[1] = IsTileWalkable(Temporary.x,Temporary.y); if(bTileStatus[1]) { //Proceed normal we are OK & walkable Tilex.Tile = map.at(Temporary.y).at(Temporary.x); //Search in lists if(SearchInClosedList(Tilex.Tile.ID,C0)) bFoundInClosedList[1] = true; if(SearchInOpenList(Tilex.Tile.ID,C0)) bFoundInOpenList[1] = true; //************************************************* // Purpose: ClosedList behavior //************************************************* if(bFoundInClosedList[0] && !bFoundInClosedList[1]) { //UP found in ClosedList. Go RIGHT return RIGHT; } if(!bFoundInClosedList[0] && bFoundInClosedList[1]) { //RIGHT found in ClosedList. Go UP return UP; } if(bFoundInClosedList[0] && bFoundInClosedList[1]) { //Both found in ClosedList. Random value switch(hge->Random_Int(8,9)) { case 8: return UP; break; case 9: return RIGHT; break; } } //************************************************* // Purpose: OpenList behavior //************************************************* if(bFoundInOpenList[0] && !bFoundInOpenList[1]) { //UP found in OpenList. Go RIGHT return RIGHT; } if(!bFoundInOpenList[0] && bFoundInOpenList[1]) { //RIGHT found in OpenList. Go UP return UP; } if(bFoundInOpenList[0] && bFoundInOpenList[1]) { //Both found in OpenList. Random value switch(hge->Random_Int(8,9)) { case 8: return UP; break; case 9: return RIGHT; break; } } } else if(!bTileStatus[1]) { //RIGHT is not walkable OR out of range //Choose UP return UP; } } else if(!bTileStatus[0]) { //UP is not walkable OR out of range //Fast check RIGHT Temporary = Current; Temporary.x += 1; bTileStatus[1] = IsTileWalkable(Temporary.x,Temporary.y); if(bTileStatus[1]) { return RIGHT; } else return FAILED; //Failed, no valid path found! } } break; A log for the second picture: (Cut down to ten passes, because it’s just repeating itself) ----------------------------------------------------- PASS: 1 | C1: 211 | C2: 191 | C3: 211 | C4: 191 DOWN + RIGHT SIMILAR Going DOWN ----------------------------------------------------- PASS: 2 | C1: 200 | C2: 182 | C3: 202 | C4: 182 DOWN + RIGHT SIMILAR Going DOWN ----------------------------------------------------- PASS: 3 | C1: 191 | C2: 193 | C3: 193 | C4: 173 C4 < ALL Tile(12.000000,6.000000) not walkable. MAX_F_VALUE set. ----------------------------------------------------- PASS: 4 | C1: 182 | C2: 184 | C3: 182 | C4: 999 UP + LEFT SIMILAR Going UP Tile(12.000000,5.000000) not walkable. MAX_F_VALUE set. ----------------------------------------------------- PASS: 5 | C1: 191 | C2: 173 | C3: 191 | C4: 999 C2 < ALL Tile(12.000000,6.000000) not walkable. MAX_F_VALUE set. ----------------------------------------------------- PASS: 6 | C1: 182 | C2: 184 | C3: 182 | C4: 999 UP + LEFT SIMILAR Going UP Tile(12.000000,5.000000) not walkable. MAX_F_VALUE set. ----------------------------------------------------- PASS: 7 | C1: 191 | C2: 173 | C3: 191 | C4: 999 C2 < ALL Tile(12.000000,6.000000) not walkable. MAX_F_VALUE set. ----------------------------------------------------- PASS: 8 | C1: 182 | C2: 184 | C3: 182 | C4: 999 UP + LEFT SIMILAR Going LEFT ----------------------------------------------------- PASS: 9 | C1: 191 | C2: 193 | C3: 193 | C4: 173 C4 < ALL Tile(12.000000,6.000000) not walkable. MAX_F_VALUE set. ----------------------------------------------------- PASS: 10 | C1: 182 | C2: 184 | C3: 182 | C4: 999 UP + LEFT SIMILAR Going LEFT ----------------------------------------------------- Its always going after the cheapest F value, which seems to be wrong. If someone could point me to the right direction I'd be thankful. Regards, bryan226

    Read the article

  • Friction not working for Vehicle in BulletPhysics

    - by Manmohan Bishnoi
    I am creating a vehicle using bullet-physics engine (v 2.82). I created a ground ( btBoxShape ), a box and a vehicle (following the demo). But friction between ground and vehicle wheels seems not working. As soon as the vehicle is placed in 3d world, it starts moving forward. START : Steering works for the vehicle, but engineForce and brakingForce does not work (i.e. I cannot speed-up or stop the vehicle) : I create physics world like this : void initPhysics() { broadphase = new btDbvtBroadphase(); collisionConfiguration = new btDefaultCollisionConfiguration(); dispatcher = new btCollisionDispatcher(collisionConfiguration); solver = new btSequentialImpulseConstraintSolver(); dynamicsWorld = new btDiscreteDynamicsWorld(dispatcher, broadphase, solver, collisionConfiguration); dynamicsWorld->setGravity(btVector3(0, -9.81, 0)); // Debug Drawer bulletDebugugger.setDebugMode(btIDebugDraw::DBG_DrawWireframe); dynamicsWorld->setDebugDrawer(&bulletDebugugger); //groundShape = new btStaticPlaneShape(btVector3(0, 1, 0), 1); groundShape = new btBoxShape(btVector3(50, 3, 50)); fallShape = new btBoxShape(btVector3(1, 1, 1)); // Orientation and Position of Ground groundMotionState = new btDefaultMotionState(btTransform(btQuaternion(0, 0, 0, 1), btVector3(0, -3, 0))); btRigidBody::btRigidBodyConstructionInfo groundRigidBodyCI(0, groundMotionState, groundShape, btVector3(0, 0, 0)); groundRigidBody = new btRigidBody(groundRigidBodyCI); dynamicsWorld->addRigidBody(groundRigidBody); /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // Vehicle Setup /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// vehicleChassisShape = new btBoxShape(btVector3(1.f, 0.5f, 2.f)); vehicleBody = new btCompoundShape(); localTrans.setIdentity(); localTrans.setOrigin(btVector3(0, 1, 0)); vehicleBody->addChildShape(localTrans, vehicleChassisShape); localTrans.setOrigin(btVector3(3, 0.f, 0)); vehicleMotionState = new btDefaultMotionState(localTrans); //vehicleMotionState = new btDefaultMotionState(btTransform(btQuaternion(0, 0, 0, 1), btVector3(3, 0, 0))); btVector3 vehicleInertia(0, 0, 0); vehicleBody->calculateLocalInertia(vehicleMass, vehicleInertia); btRigidBody::btRigidBodyConstructionInfo vehicleRigidBodyCI(vehicleMass, vehicleMotionState, vehicleBody, vehicleInertia); vehicleRigidBody = new btRigidBody(vehicleRigidBodyCI); dynamicsWorld->addRigidBody(vehicleRigidBody); wheelShape = new btCylinderShapeX(btVector3(wheelWidth, wheelRadius, wheelRadius)); { vehicleRayCaster = new btDefaultVehicleRaycaster(dynamicsWorld); vehicle = new btRaycastVehicle(vehicleTuning, vehicleRigidBody, vehicleRayCaster); // never deactivate vehicle vehicleRigidBody->setActivationState(DISABLE_DEACTIVATION); dynamicsWorld->addVehicle(vehicle); float connectionHeight = 1.2f; bool isFrontWheel = true; vehicle->setCoordinateSystem(rightIndex, upIndex, forwardIndex); // 0, 1, 2 // add wheels // front left btVector3 connectionPointCS0(CUBE_HALF_EXTENT-(0.3*wheelWidth), connectionHeight, 2*CUBE_HALF_EXTENT-wheelRadius); vehicle->addWheel(connectionPointCS0, wheelDirectionCS0, wheelAxleCS, suspensionRestLength, wheelRadius, vehicleTuning, isFrontWheel); // front right connectionPointCS0 = btVector3(-CUBE_HALF_EXTENT+(0.3*wheelWidth), connectionHeight, 2*CUBE_HALF_EXTENT-wheelRadius); vehicle->addWheel(connectionPointCS0, wheelDirectionCS0, wheelAxleCS, suspensionRestLength, wheelRadius, vehicleTuning, isFrontWheel); isFrontWheel = false; // rear right connectionPointCS0 = btVector3(-CUBE_HALF_EXTENT+(0.3*wheelWidth), connectionHeight, -2*CUBE_HALF_EXTENT+wheelRadius); vehicle->addWheel(connectionPointCS0, wheelDirectionCS0, wheelAxleCS, suspensionRestLength, wheelRadius, vehicleTuning, isFrontWheel); // rear left connectionPointCS0 = btVector3(CUBE_HALF_EXTENT-(0.3*wheelWidth), connectionHeight, -2*CUBE_HALF_EXTENT+wheelRadius); vehicle->addWheel(connectionPointCS0, wheelDirectionCS0, wheelAxleCS, suspensionRestLength, wheelRadius, vehicleTuning, isFrontWheel); for (int i = 0; i < vehicle->getNumWheels(); i++) { btWheelInfo& wheel = vehicle->getWheelInfo(i); wheel.m_suspensionStiffness = suspensionStiffness; wheel.m_wheelsDampingRelaxation = suspensionDamping; wheel.m_wheelsDampingCompression = suspensionCompression; wheel.m_frictionSlip = wheelFriction; wheel.m_rollInfluence = rollInfluence; } } /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // Orientation and Position of Falling body fallMotionState = new btDefaultMotionState(btTransform(btQuaternion(0, 0, 0, 1), btVector3(-1, 5, 0))); btScalar mass = 1; btVector3 fallInertia(0, 0, 0); fallShape->calculateLocalInertia(mass, fallInertia); btRigidBody::btRigidBodyConstructionInfo fallRigidBodyCI(mass, fallMotionState, fallShape, fallInertia); fallRigidBody = new btRigidBody(fallRigidBodyCI); dynamicsWorld->addRigidBody(fallRigidBody); } I step physics world like this : // does not work vehicle->applyEngineForce(maxEngineForce, WHEEL_REARLEFT); vehicle->applyEngineForce(maxEngineForce, WHEEL_REARRIGHT); // these also do not work vehicle->setBrake(gBreakingForce, WHEEL_REARLEFT); vehicle->setBrake(gBreakingForce, WHEEL_REARRIGHT); // this works vehicle->setSteeringValue(gVehicleSteering, WHEEL_FRONTLEFT); vehicle->setSteeringValue(gVehicleSteering, WHEEL_FRONTRIGHT); dynamicsWorld->stepSimulation(1 / 60.0f, 10); However If I apply brakingForce to all 4 wheels (i.e. including WHEEL_FRONTLEFT and WHEEL_FRONTRIGHT), then my vehicle stops, but keeps sliding/moving forward very very slowly. How do I fix this ?

    Read the article

  • how to move the camera behind a model with the same angle? in XNA

    - by Mehdi Bugnard
    I meet are having difficulty in moving my camera behind an object in a 3D world. I would create two view mode. 1: for fps (first person). 2nd: external view behind the character (second person). I searched the net some example but it does not work in my project. Here is my code used to change view if F2 is pressed //Camera double X1 = this.camera.PositionX; double X2 = this.player.Position.X; double Z1 = this.camera.PositionZ; double Z2 = this.player.Position.Z; //Verify that the user must not let the press F2 if (!this.camera.IsF2TurnedInBoucle) { // If the view mode is the second person if (this.camera.ViewCamera_type == CameraSimples.ChangeView.SecondPerson) { this.camera.ViewCamera_type = CameraSimples.ChangeView.firstPerson; //Calcul position - ?? Here my problem double direction = Math.Atan2(X2 - X1, Z2 - Z1) * 180.0 / 3.14159265; //Calcul angle - ?? Here my problem this.camera.position = .. this.camera.rotation = .. this.camera.MouseRadian_LeftrightRot = (float)direction; } //IF mode view is first person else { //....

    Read the article

  • Direct3d - Code structure

    - by marcg11
    I'm learning directx in a master's degree and they taught us to have a GraphicsLayer class which is the one connecting with the direct3d library. That way this class is completly independent from the other classes (my game classes), meaning changing the renderer to OpenGL wouldn't require much effort but only changing the graphicLayer. This classe has it's LoadAssets, Paint methods, but I have a question, they told us to load all the assets inside this class. This means all these methods will be in the loadAssets method: D3DXCreateTextureFromFileEx(g_pD3DDevice,"tiles.png",0,0,1,0,D3DFMT_UNKNOWN,D3DPOOL_DEFAULT,D3DX_FILTER_NONE,D3DX_FILTER_NONE,NULL,NULL,NULL,&texTiles); // And more resources to load //... texTiles as you see is a LPDIRECT3DTEXTURE9 instance which is declared in the graphicLayer.h. So my question is, how do you manage all the resources? Do I have to declare in the .h all my game textures even if I'm not using them? How would you load only those resources there are in a scene and draw them in a code-strucured way?

    Read the article

  • how to implement motion blur effect?

    - by PlayerOne
    I wanted to know how one would implement this motion blur or fade effect behind the soccer ball . Here is what I was thinking . You have the balls current position and you also keep its previous position(couple of sec back). and you draw a "streak" sprite between the 2 points. I have seen this effect lots of time implemented for projects in various 2d games and wanted to know if there is a standard technique. http://i45.tinypic.com/2n24j7r.png

    Read the article

  • XNA windows phone release black textures

    - by Lukasz Kajstura
    i just made a 3d game in XNA for windows phone 7. I build it in release mode on visual studio 2010 and suddenly when I run game there is no textures on models - 2 models are black and one is transparent. Models are in .X format exported from 3dsmax and have textures in .jpg also added to game content. I set build action to none and all worked fine in debug mode. When I change to release mode - black textures. When I set build action to compile it gives me warning: Asset was built 2 times with different settings: using TextureImporter and TextureProcessor using TextureImporter and TextureProcessor, referenced by... and still no textures. What can I do?

    Read the article

  • Serverside memory efficiency and threading for a turn based game

    - by SkeletorFromEterenia
    Im programming on a turn based war-game for some years now (along with the engine) and Im having quite a hard time at figuring out what the games server architecture should look like, since most game server architecture articles I found focus either on FPS oder MMOGs, which doesn't really fit since I want many matches with 1- 16 players on my server, with each match being played in turn based mode. My chief concern is memory usage, since the most basic approach of loading every game that is being played completely into RAM should be quite inefficient, so is there a suitable strategy for selecting only the needed bits and loading them? Another question I got is how to design the threading on the server, since I think using only a single thread could be a problem due to the fact that the game or part of it might have to be loaded from the database. I would be very happy if you could share your knowledge or point me to material on this topic.

    Read the article

  • matrix 4x4 position data

    - by freefallr
    I understand that a 4x4 matrix holds rotation and position data. The rotation data is held in the 3x3 sub-matrix at the top left of the matrix. The position data is held in the last column of the matrix. e.g. glm::vec3 vParentPos( mParent[3][0], mParent[3][1], mParent[3][2] ); My question is - am I accessing the parent matrix correctly in the example above? I know that opengl uses a different matrix ordering that directx, (row order instead of column order or something), so, should the mParent be accessed as follows instead? glm::vec3 vParentPos( mParent[0][3], mParent[1][3], mParent[2][3] ); thanks!

    Read the article

  • What are some good examples of exuberant in-game instructions for telling the player to repeatedly smash a button?

    - by Michael
    What are some good examples of exuberant in-game instructions for telling the player to repeatedly and quickly press a button or perform an action? I'm especially interested in examples in retro games (e.g., from the NES, SNES, and 1980-90s arcade eras), and I would love to see examples with text, graphics, or both. To illustrate, here are a few examples of the type of instructions that I'm thinking of: Smash the A button to lift something heavy! Toggle the joystick back and forth to break free! Quickly press the button to build power in a meter! I'm working on a 2D iOS game with retro-style pixel art, and there's a point where I want the player to quickly tap on a sprite to complete an action. I have a serviceable starting point -- the word "TAP" flashing with an arrow repeatedly moving downward beneath it: But it still doesn't feel quite right. I would love to see some actual examples from the golden days of 2D gaming to use as reference material. I know examples abound, but I'm just struggling to think of any concrete ones at the moment. Can you think of any examples of this type of thing in old games?

    Read the article

  • Skanska Builds Global Workforce Insight with Cloud-Based HCM System

    - by HCM-Oracle
    By David Baum - Originally posted on Profit Peter Bjork grew up building things. He started his work life learning all sorts of trades at his father’s construction company in the northern part of Sweden. So in college, it was natural for him to pursue a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering—but he broke new ground when he added a master’s degree in finance to his curriculum vitae. Written on a traditional résumé, Bjork’s current title (vice president of information systems strategies) doesn’t reveal the diversity of his experience—that he’s adept with hammer and nails as well as rows and columns. But a big part of his current job is to work with his counterparts in human resources (HR) designing, building, and deploying the systems needed to get a complete view of the skills and potential of Skanska’s 22,000-strong white-collar workforce. And Bjork believes that complete view is essential to Skanska’s success. “Our business is really all about people,” says Bjork, who has worked with Skanska for 16 years. “You can have equipment and financial resources, but to truly succeed in a business like ours you need to have the right people in the right places. That’s what this system is helping us accomplish.” In a global HR environment that suffers from a paradox of high unemployment and a scarcity of skilled labor, managers need to have a complete understanding of workforce capabilities to develop management skills, recruit for open positions, ensure that staff is getting the training they need, and reduce attrition. Skanska’s human capital management (HCM) systems, based on Oracle Talent Management Cloud, play a critical role delivering that understanding. “Skanska’s philosophy of having great people, encouraging their development, and giving them the chance to move across business units has nurtured a culture of collaboration, but managing a diverse workforce spread across the globe is a monumental challenge,” says Annika Lindholm, global human resources system owner in the HR department at Skanska’s headquarters just outside of Stockholm, Sweden. “We depend heavily on Oracle’s cloud technology to support our HCM function.” Construction, Workers For Skanska’s more than 60,000 employees and contractors, managing huge construction projects is an everyday job. Beyond erecting signature buildings, management’s goal is to build a corporate culture where valuable talent can be sought out and developed, bringing in the right mix of people to support and grow the business. “Of all the companies in our space, Skanska is probably one of the strongest ones, with a laser focus on people and people development,” notes Tom Crane, chief HR and communications officer for Skanska in the United States. “Our business looks like equipment and material, but all we really have at the end of the day are people and their intellectual capital. Without them, second only to clients, of course, you really can’t achieve great things in the high-profile environment in which we work.” During the 1990s, Skanska entered an expansive growth phase. A string of successful acquisitions paved the way for the company’s transformation into a global enterprise. “Today the company’s focus is on profitable growth,” continues Crane. “But you can’t really achieve growth unless you are doing a very good job of developing your people and having the right people in the right places and driving a culture of growth.” In the United States alone, Skanska has more than 8,000 employees in four distinct business units: Skanska USA Building, also known as the Construction Manager, builds everything at ground level and above—hospitals, educational facilities, stadiums, airport terminals, and other massive projects. Skanska USA Civil does everything at ground level and below, such as light rail, water treatment facilities, power plants or power industry facilities, highways, and bridges. Skanska Infrastructure Development develops public-private partnerships—projects in which Skanska adds equity and also arranges for outside financing. Skanska Commercial Development acts like a commercial real estate developer, acquiring land and building offices on spec or build-to-suit for its clients. Skanska's international portfolio includes construction of the new Meadowlands Stadium. Getting the various units to operate collaboratatively helps Skanska deliver high value to clients and shareholders. “When we have this collaboration among units, it allows us to enrich each of the business units and, at the same time, develop our future leaders to be more facile in operating across business units—more accepting of a ‘one Skanska’ approach,” explains Crane. Workforce Worldwide But HR needs processes and tools to support managers who face such business dynamics. Oracle Talent Management Cloud is helping Skanska implement world-class recruiting strategies and generate the insights needed to drive quality hiring practices, internal mobility, and a proactive approach to building talent pipelines. With their new cloud system in place, Skanska HR leaders can manage everything from recruiting, compensation, and goal and performance management to employee learning and talent review—all as part of a single, cohesive software-as-a-service (SaaS) environment. Skanska has successfully implemented two modules from Oracle Talent Management Cloud—the recruiting and performance management modules—and is in the process of implementing the learn module. Internally, they call the systems Skanska Recruit, Skanska Talent, and Skanska Learn. The timing is apropos. With high rates of unemployment in recent years, there have been many job candidates on the market. However, talent scarcity continues to frustrate recruiters. Oracle Taleo Recruiting Cloud Service, one of the applications in the Oracle Talent Management cloud portfolio, enables Skanska managers to create more-intelligent recruiting strategies, pulling high-performer profile statistics to create new candidate profiles and using multitiered screening and assessments to ensure that only the best-suited candidate applications make it to the recruiter’s desk. Tools such as applicant tracking, interview management, and requisition management help recruiters and hiring managers streamline the hiring process. Oracle’s cloud-based software system automates and streamlines many other HR processes for Skanska’s multinational organization and delivers insight into the success of recruiting and talent-management efforts. “The Oracle system is definitely helping us to construct global HR processes,” adds Bjork. “It is really important that we have a business model that is decentralized, so we can effectively serve our local markets, and interact with our global ERP [enterprise resource planning] systems as well. We would not be able to do this without a really good, well-integrated HCM system that could support these efforts.” A key piece of this effort is something Skanska has developed internally called the Skanska Leadership Profile. Core competencies, on which all employees are measured, are used in performance reviews to determine weak areas but also to discover talent, such as those who will be promoted or need succession plans. This global profiling system brings consistency to the way HR professionals evaluate and review talent across the company, with a consistent set of ratings and a consistent definition of competencies. All salaried employees in Skanska are tied to a talent management process that gives opportunity for midyear and year-end reviews. Using the performance management module, managers can align individual goals with corporate goals; provide clear visibility into how each employee contributes to the success of the organization; and drive a strategic, end-to-end talent management strategy with a single, integrated system for all talent-related activities. This is critical to a company that is highly focused on ensuring that every employee has a development plan linked to his or her succession potential. “Our approach all along has been to deploy software applications that are seamless to end users,” says Crane. “The beauty of a cloud-based system is that much of the functionality takes place behind the scenes so we can focus on making sure users can access the data when they need it. This model greatly improves their efficiency.” The employee profile not only sets a competency baseline for new employees but is also integrated with Skanska’s other back-office Oracle systems to ensure consistency in the way information is used to support other business functions. “Since we have about a dozen different HR systems that are providing us with information, we built a master database that collects all the information,” explains Lindholm. “That data is sent not only to Oracle Talent Management Cloud, but also to other systems that are dependent on this information.” Collaboration to Scale Skanska is poised to launch a new Oracle module to link employee learning plans to the review process and recruitment assessments. According to Crane, connecting these processes allows Skanska managers to see employees’ progress and produce an updated learning program. For example, as employees take classes, supervisors can consult the Oracle Talent Management Cloud portal to monitor progress and align it to each individual’s training and development plan. “That’s a pretty compelling solution for an organization that wants to manage its talent on a real-time basis and see how the training is working,” Crane says. Rolling out Oracle Talent Management Cloud was a joint effort among HR, IT, and a global group that oversaw the worldwide implementation. Skanska deployed the solution quickly across all markets at once. In the United States, for example, more than 35 offices quickly got up to speed on the new system via webinars for employees and face-to-face training for the HR group. “With any migration, there are moments when you hold your breath, but in this case, we had very few problems getting the system up and running,” says Crane. Lindholm adds, “There has been very little resistance to the system as users recognize its potential. Customizations are easy, and a lasting partnership has developed between Skanska and Oracle when help is needed. They listen to us.” Bjork elaborates on the implementation process from an IT perspective. “Deploying a SaaS system removes a lot of the complexity,” he says. “You can downsize the IT part and focus on the business part, which increases the probability of a successful implementation. If you want to scale the system, you make a quick phone call. That’s all it took recently when we added 4,000 users. We didn’t have to think about resizing the servers or hiring more IT people. Oracle does that for us, and they have provided very good support.” As a result, Skanska has been able to implement a single, cost-effective talent management solution across the organization to support its strategy to recruit and develop a world-class staff. Stakeholders are confident that they are providing the most efficient recruitment system possible for competent personnel at all levels within the company—from skilled workers at construction sites to top management at headquarters. And Skanska can retain skilled employees and ensure that they receive the development opportunities they need to grow and advance.

    Read the article

  • cross resolution level design advice [on hold]

    - by Mike
    I was looking for some beginner advice regarding level design across multiple resolutions. I believe the answer is likely "it depends", but any input from anyone with real experience is very appreciated. Basically, I am building a 2D Super Metroid type game. If rooms/levels are to be a tiled grid, what are some general best practices for designing rooms when taking into account different resolutions? Since more or less tiles could fit vertically on a single screen depending on the resolution, is it better to design towards possibly having more of the room visible depending on the screen (with a bare minimum needed for gameplay), or should I fix the design at a certain tile height and scale the graphics?

    Read the article

  • How to deal with large open worlds?

    - by Mr. Beast
    In most games the whole world is small enough to fit into memory, however there are games where this is not the case, how is this archived, how can the game still run fluid even though the world is so big and maybe even dynamic? How does the world change in memory while the player moves? Examples for this include the TES games (Skyrim, Oblivion, Morrowind), MMORPGs (World of Warcraft), Diablo, Titan Quest, Dwarf Fortress, Far Cry.

    Read the article

  • Is there a global "low resolution" filter for OpenGL?

    - by Ian Henry
    I'm trying to learn a little about OpenGL, so I'm making a simple 2D game (with OpenTK), and so far it's coming along well. I thought it would be fun to give it that, for lack of a better word, retropixelated look of games from the early nineties. I figured it would be an easy thing to do -- simply draw everything at half its normal size and scale up with no anti-aliasing. But I can't find any resources on how to do this. I can set the min/mag filters of my textures to nearest and that works fine for my sprites, but I'm using lots of primitives and I'd like the effect to apply to them as well. The one idea I had was to draw everything at half size, then somehow copy the render buffer to a texture, then render that texture full-size, but I don't know how to do that, and it seems like there must be a better way. Can anyone help me out?

    Read the article

  • 3d vertex translated onto 2d viewport

    - by Dan Leidal
    I have a spherical world defined by simple trigonometric functions to create triangles that are relatively similar in size and shape throughout. What I want to be able to do is use mouse input to target a range of vertices in the area around the mouse click in order to manipulate these vertices in real time. I read a post on this forum regarding translating 3d world coordinates into the 2d viewport.. it recommended that you should multiply the world vector coordinates by the viewport and then the projection, but they didn't include any code examples, and suffice to say i couldn't get any good results. Further information.. I am using a lookat method for the viewport. Does this cause a problem, and if so is there a solution? If this isn't the problem, does anyone have a simple code example illustrating translating one vertex in a 3d world into a 2d viewspace? I am using XNA.

    Read the article

  • Stuck at enemy movement

    - by Syed
    I am making a TD game in unity, Initially I made all of my enemy movements frame rate dependent say: I had a grid point1 at -22.65 and other at -21.1, diagrammatically: (-22.65) _________(-21.1)_______(-21.1+1.55) ...... so the distance on x axis between two points is 1.55, divided it by 25 jumps with each enemy jump of 0.062 of each frame. On reaching on next point of grid the enemy find again its path. All went fine until I have requirement of FastForward and Pause feature. I used timeScale property of unity but it wont work as they are frame dependent. I also tried double speed of enemy on clicking fast forward button at any time, it has some issues that enemy jumps are now less and it fails to reach on next grid point. Could someone suggest me solution to my problem. Do I need to change the enemy movement code to make it frame independent ?? I need the enemy to reach on the grid specific point I also need later to slow down any one enemy's speed when tower fires on it. Thnx

    Read the article

  • Understanding how to create/use textures for games when limited by power of two sizes

    - by Matthias Reisner
    I have some questions about the creating graphics for a game. As an example. I want to create a motorbike. (1pixel = 1centimeter) So my motorbike will have 200 width and 150 height. (200x150) But the libgdx only allows to load sizes with the power of 2?! (2,4,8,16,...) First I thought about that way. I will create my bike with the size (200x150) and save it as png. Than I will open it again (e.g. with gimp) resize the image to a size which uses values with power of 2 (128x128). I will load that as texture in the programm and set width as 200 and height as 150. But wouldn't it be a problem? Because I will lose some pixel information when I make the first conversation.?! Isn't it?

    Read the article

  • Modify game using external file

    - by Veehmot
    In Flash, for example, I can place an xml file along with the binary, then if I modify some variable the game will change for everyone. How to achieve something like that in Android? I know that for every change I make to the game, the player would need to download a new update. But the main goal I'm looking for, is modifying a game stats without the need for recompile the entire APK. I'm working with Haxe+OpenFL.

    Read the article

  • Difference between the terms Material & Effect

    - by codey
    I'm making an effect system right now (I think, because it may be a material system... or both!). The effects system follows the common (e.g. COLLADA, DirectX) effect framework abstraction of Effects have Techniques, Techniques have Passes, Passes have States & Shader Programs. An effect, according to COLLADA, defines the equations necessary for the visual appearance of geometry and screen-space image processing. Keeping with the abstraction, effects contain techniques. Each effect can contain one or many techniques (i.e. ways to generate the effect), each of which describes a different method for rendering that effect. The technique could be relate to quality (e.g. high precision, high LOD, etc.), or in-game-situation (e.g. night/day, power-up-mode, etc.). Techniques hold a description of the textures, samplers, shaders, parameters, & passes necessary for rendering this effect using one method. Some algorithms require several passes to render the effect. Pipeline descriptions are broken into an ordered collection of Pass objects. A pass provides a static declaration of all the render states, shaders, & settings for "one rendering pipeline" (i.e. one pass). Meshes usually contain a series of materials that define the model. According to the COLLADA spec (again), a material instantiates an effect, fills its parameters with values, & selects a technique. But I see material defined differently in other places, such as just the Lambert, Blinn, Phong "material types/shaded surfaces", or as Metal, Plastic, Wood, etc. In game dev forums, people often talk about implementing a "material/effect system". Is the material not an instance of an effect? Ergo, if I had effect objects, stored in a collection, & each effect instance object with there own parameter setting, then there is no need for the concept of a material... Or am I interpreting it wrong? Please help by contributing your interpretations as I want to be clear on a distinction (if any), & don't want to miss out on the concept of a material if it should be implemented to follow the abstraction of the DirectX FX framework & COLLADA definitions closely.

    Read the article

  • Who owns the intellectual property to Fragile Allegiance?

    - by analytik
    Fragile Allegiance was developed by Gremlin Interactive, which was later acquired by Infogrames (Atari). I couldn't find any details of the acquisition though. The only interesting thing I have found online is that the owner of the registered trademark Fragile Allegiance is Interplay, who published Fragile Allegiance. However, the only copyright note I've found was in one installation .ini file, claiming it for Gremlin. What are the common business practices when it comes to old, unused IPs? What do publishers/developers actually need to legally claim an intellectual property? Does anyone have an experience with contacting big publishers with copyright/IP inquiries? Related legal question.

    Read the article

  • Best practices with Vertices in Open GL

    - by Darestium
    What is the best practice in regards to storing vertex data in Open GL? I.e: struct VertexColored { public: GLfloat position[]; GLfloat normal[]; byte colours[]; } class Terrian { private: GLuint vbo_vertices; GLuint vbo_normals; GLuint vbo_colors; GLuint ibo_elements; VertexColored vertices[]; } or having them stored seperatly in the required class like: class Terrian { private: GLfloat vertices[]; GLfloat normals[]; GLfloat colors[]; GLuint vbo_vertices; GLuint vbo_normals; GLuint vbo_colors; GLuint ibo_elements; }

    Read the article

< Previous Page | 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411  | Next Page >