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  • Data Structures for Logic Games / Deduction Rules / Sufficient Set of Clues?

    - by taserian
    I've been cogitating about developing a logic game similar to Einstein's Puzzle , which would have different sets of clues for every new game replay. What data structures would you use to handle the different entities (pets, colors of houses, nationalities, etc.), deduction rules, etc. to guarantee that the clues you provide point to a unique solution? I'm having a hard time thinking about how to get the deduction rules to play along with the possible clues; any insight would be appreciated.

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  • Deserialize inherited classes into the same list in XNA

    - by M0rgenstern
    I am writing a Gui for a game (for what else ...). Therefor I wrote a class GuiElement which has some serializeable fields. From this class I deflect a Class "Button" which has one serializeable field more. Furthermore, I have a Class GuiWindow, which is as well deflected from "GuiElement". An Object of this Class has a Field "HandledElements" of the type "List". To know the layout of the Menues, I use XML-Files, which look like that (for example): <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <XnaContent xmlns:Generic="System.Collections.Generic"> <Asset Type="System.Collections.Generic.List[GUI.GuiWindow]"> <Item> <Position>0 0</Position> <AlternativeImagePath></AlternativeImagePath> <IsActive>true</IsActive> <Name>MainMenu</Name> <HandledElements> <Item> <Position>100 100</Position> <AlternativeImagePath></AlternativeImagePath> <IsActive>true</IsActive> <Name>Optionen</Name> <Caption>Optionen</Caption> </Item> </HandledElements> </Item> <Item> <Position>0 0</Position> <AlternativeImagePath></AlternativeImagePath> <IsActive>false</IsActive> <Name>Options</Name> <HandledElements> </HandledElements> </Item> </Asset> </XnaContent> As you can see, the first window has in its "HandledElements" List an Item with the Field . This is a field which only a Button has. The Problem is now: I can't deserialize this XML file, because GuiElement does not have this Field, it only has the few fields above. I thought it would know automatically which Class to use,but it doesn't. Do I really have to give my windows a list for each child class of GuiElement? Or can I do another workaround?

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  • Asset missing problem XNA

    - by ChocoMan
    I'm using VS2010 with XNA 4.0 and I'm trying to load an FBX model with texture on the screen. The problem I'm having is this error: Missing Asset: C:\Users\ChocoMan\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\XNAGame\Documents\Visual Studio\Projects\XNAGame\XNAGameContent\Textures\texture.bmp but the actual path to the texture is C:\Users\ChocoMan\Documents\Visual Studio\Projects\XNAGame\XNAGameContent\Textures\texture.bmp Also, when I linked the texture in Maya, I used the above address. Does anyone know why VS is looking for an incorrect address that doesnt exist?

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  • How to use the zoom gesture in libgdx?

    - by user3452725
    I found the example code for the GestureListener class, but I don't understand the zoom method: private float initialScale = 1; public boolean zoom (float originalDistance, float currentDistance) { float ratio = originalDistance / currentDistance; //I get this camera.zoom = initialScale * ratio; //This doesn't make sense to me because it seems like every time you pinch to zoom, it resets to the original zoom which is 1. So basically it wouldn't 'save' the zoom right? System.out.println(camera.zoom); //Prints the camera zoom return false; } Am I not interpreting this right?

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  • How to do geometric projection shadows?

    - by John Murdoch
    I have decided that since my game world is mostly flat I don't need better shadows than geometric projections - at least for now. The only problem is I don't even know how to do those properly - that is to produce a 4x4 matrix which would render shadows for my objects (that is, I guess, project them on a horizontal XZ plane). I would like a light source at infinity (e.g., the sun at some point in the sky) and thus parallel projection. My current code does something that looks almost right for small flying objects, but actually is a very rude approximation, as it doesn't project the objects onto the ground, but simply moves them there (I think). Also it always wrongly assumes the sun is always on the zenith (projecting straight down). Gdx.gl20.glEnable(GL10.GL_BLEND); Gdx.gl20.glBlendFunc(GL10.GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL10.GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA); //shells shellTexture.bind(); shader.begin(); for (ShellState state : shellStates.values()) { transform.set(camera.combined); transform.mul(state.transform); shader.setUniformMatrix("u_worldView", transform); shader.setUniformi("u_texture", 0); shellMesh.render(shader, GL10.GL_TRIANGLES); } shader.end(); // shadows shader.begin(); for (ShellState state : shellStates.values()) { transform.set(camera.combined); m4.set(state.transform); state.transform.getTranslation(v3); m4.translate(0, -v3.y + 0.5f, 0); // TODO HACK: + 0.5f is a hack to ensure the shadow appears above the ground; this is overall a hack as we are just moving the shell to the surface instead of projecting it on the surface! transform.mul(m4); shader.setUniformMatrix("u_worldView", transform); shader.setUniformi("u_texture", 0); // TODO: make shadow black somehow shellMesh.render(shader, GL10.GL_TRIANGLES); } shader.end(); Gdx.gl.glDisable(GL10.GL_BLEND); So my questions are: a) What is the proper way to produce a Matrix4 to pass to openGL which would render the shadows for my objects? b) I am supposed to use another fragment shader for the shadows which would paint them in semi-transparent grey, correct? c) The limitation of this simplistic approach is that whenever there is some object on the ground (it is not flat) the shadows will not be drawn, correct? d) Do I need to add something very small to the y (up) coordinate to avoid z-fighting with ground textures? Or is the fact they will be semi-transparent enough to resolve that problem?

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  • Any reliable polygon normal calculation code?

    - by Jenko
    I'm currently calculating the normal vector of a polygon using this code, but for some faces here and there it calculates a wrong normal. I don't really know what's going on or where it fails but its not reliable. Do you have any polygon normal calculation that's tested and found to be reliable? // calculate normal of a polygon using all points var n:int = points.length; var x:Number = 0; var y:Number = 0; var z:Number = 0 // ensure all points above 0 var minx:Number = 0, miny:Number = 0, minz:Number = 0; for (var p:int = 0, pl:int = points.length; p < pl; p++) { var po:_Point3D = points[p] = points[p].clone(); if (po.x < minx) { minx = po.x; } if (po.y < miny) { miny = po.y; } if (po.z < minz) { minz = po.z; } } for (p = 0; p < pl; p++) { po = points[p]; po.x -= minx; po.y -= miny; po.z -= minz; } var cur:int = 1, prev:int = 0, next:int = 2; for (var i:int = 1; i <= n; i++) { // using Newell method x += points[cur].y * (points[next].z - points[prev].z); y += points[cur].z * (points[next].x - points[prev].x); z += points[cur].x * (points[next].y - points[prev].y); cur = (cur+1) % n; next = (next+1) % n; prev = (prev+1) % n; } // length of the normal var length:Number = Math.sqrt(x * x + y * y + z * z); // turn large values into a unit vector if (length != 0){ x = x / length; y = y / length; z = z / length; }else { throw new Error("Cannot calculate normal since triangle has an area of 0"); }

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  • 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.

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  • Lighting get darker when texture is aplied

    - by noah
    Im using OpenGL ES 1.1 for iPhone. I'm attempting to implement a skybox in my 3d world and started out by following one of Jeff Lamarches tutorials on creating textures. Heres the tutorial: iphonedevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/05/opengl-es-from-ground-up-part-6_25.html Ive successfully added the image to my 3d world but am not sure why the lighting on the other shapes has changed so much. I want the shapes to be the original color and have the image in the background. Before: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ojmb8793vj514h0/Screen%20Shot%202012-10-01%20at%205.34.44%20PM.png After: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8v6yvur8amgudia/Screen%20Shot%202012-10-01%20at%205.35.31%20PM.png Heres the init OpenGL: - (void)initOpenGLES1 { glShadeModel(GL_SMOOTH); // Enable lighting glEnable(GL_LIGHTING); // Turn the first light on glEnable(GL_LIGHT0); const GLfloat lightAmbient[] = {0.2, 0.2, 0.2, 1.0}; const GLfloat lightDiffuse[] = {0.8, 0.8, 0.8, 1.0}; const GLfloat matAmbient[] = {0.3, 0.3, 0.3, 0.5}; const GLfloat matDiffuse[] = {1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0}; const GLfloat matSpecular[] = {1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0}; const GLfloat lightPosition[] = {0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0}; const GLfloat lightShininess = 100.0; //Configure OpenGL lighting glEnable(GL_LIGHTING); glEnable(GL_LIGHT0); glMaterialfv(GL_FRONT_AND_BACK, GL_AMBIENT, matAmbient); glMaterialfv(GL_FRONT_AND_BACK, GL_DIFFUSE, matDiffuse); glMaterialfv(GL_FRONT_AND_BACK, GL_SPECULAR, matSpecular); glMaterialf(GL_FRONT_AND_BACK, GL_SHININESS, lightShininess); glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_AMBIENT, lightAmbient); glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_DIFFUSE, lightDiffuse); glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_POSITION, lightPosition); // Define a cutoff angle glLightf(GL_LIGHT0, GL_SPOT_CUTOFF, 40.0); // Set the clear color glClearColor(0, 0, 0, 1.0f); // Projection Matrix config glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION); glLoadIdentity(); CGSize layerSize = self.view.layer.frame.size; // Swapped height and width for landscape mode gluPerspective(45.0f, (GLfloat)layerSize.height / (GLfloat)layerSize.width, 0.1f, 750.0f); [self initSkyBox]; // Modelview Matrix config glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW); glLoadIdentity(); // This next line is not really needed as it is the default for OpenGL ES glTexEnvi(GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL_TEXTURE_ENV_MODE, GL_MODULATE); glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA); glDisable(GL_BLEND); // Enable depth testing glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST); glDepthFunc(GL_LESS); glDepthMask(GL_TRUE); } Heres the drawSkybox that gets called in the drawFrame method: -(void)drawSkyBox { glDisable(GL_LIGHTING); glDisable(GL_DEPTH_TEST); glEnableClientState(GL_VERTEX_ARRAY); glEnableClientState(GL_NORMAL_ARRAY); glEnableClientState(GL_TEXTURE_COORD_ARRAY); static const SSVertex3D vertices[] = { {-1.0, 1.0, -0.0}, { 1.0, 1.0, -0.0}, {-1.0, -1.0, -0.0}, { 1.0, -1.0, -0.0} }; static const SSVertex3D normals[] = { {0.0, 0.0, 1.0}, {0.0, 0.0, 1.0}, {0.0, 0.0, 1.0}, {0.0, 0.0, 1.0} }; static const GLfloat texCoords[] = { 0.0, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.0, 0.0, 0.5, 0.0 }; glLoadIdentity(); glTranslatef(0.0, 0.0, -3.0); glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, texture[0]); glVertexPointer(3, GL_FLOAT, 0, vertices); glNormalPointer(GL_FLOAT, 0, normals); glTexCoordPointer(2, GL_FLOAT, 0, texCoords); glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP, 0, 4); glDisableClientState(GL_VERTEX_ARRAY); glDisableClientState(GL_NORMAL_ARRAY); glDisableClientState(GL_TEXTURE_COORD_ARRAY); glEnable(GL_LIGHTING); glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST); } Heres the init Skybox: -(void)initSkyBox { // Turn necessary features on glEnable(GL_TEXTURE_2D); glEnable(GL_BLEND); glBlendFunc(GL_ONE, GL_SRC_COLOR); // Bind the number of textures we need, in this case one. glGenTextures(1, &texture[0]); // create a texture obj, give unique ID glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, texture[0]); // load our new texture name into the current texture glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D,GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER,GL_LINEAR); glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D,GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER,GL_LINEAR); NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"space" ofType:@"jpg"]; NSData *texData = [[NSData alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:path]; UIImage *image = [[UIImage alloc] initWithData:texData]; GLuint width = CGImageGetWidth(image.CGImage); GLuint height = CGImageGetHeight(image.CGImage); CGColorSpaceRef colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB(); void *imageData = malloc( height * width * 4 ); // times 4 because will write one byte for rgb and alpha CGContextRef cgContext = CGBitmapContextCreate( imageData, width, height, 8, 4 * width, colorSpace, kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast | kCGBitmapByteOrder32Big ); // Flip the Y-axis CGContextTranslateCTM (cgContext, 0, height); CGContextScaleCTM (cgContext, 1.0, -1.0); CGColorSpaceRelease( colorSpace ); CGContextClearRect( cgContext, CGRectMake( 0, 0, width, height ) ); CGContextDrawImage( cgContext, CGRectMake( 0, 0, width, height ), image.CGImage ); glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGBA, width, height, 0, GL_RGBA, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, imageData); CGContextRelease(cgContext); free(imageData); [image release]; [texData release]; } Any help is greatly appreciated.

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  • Examples of 2D side-scrollers that achieve open non-linear feel?

    - by Milosz Falinski
    I'm working on a 2.5D platformer prototype that aims for an open feel while maintaining familiar core mechanics. Now, there's some obvious challenges with creating a non constricted feel in a spatially constricted environment. What I'm interested in, is examples of how game designers deal with the "here's a level, beat the bad guys/puzzles to get to the next level" design that seems so natural to most platformers (eg. Mario/Braid/Pid/Meat Boy to name a few). Some ideas for achieving openness I've come across include: One obvious successful example is Terraria, which achieves openness simply through complexity and flexibility of the game-system Another example that comes to mind is Cave Story. Game is non-linear, offers multiple choices and side-stories Mario, Rayman and some other 'classics' with a top-down level selection. I actually really dislike this as it never did anything for me emotionally and just seems like a bit of a lazy way to do things. Note: I've not actually had much experience with most of the 'classical' console platformers, apart from the obvious Marios/Zeldas/Metroids, since I've grown up on adventure games. By that I mean, it's entirely possible that I simply missed some games that solve the problem really well and are by some considered obvious 'classics'.

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  • How a "Collision System" should be implemented?

    - by nathan
    My game is written using a entity system approach using Artemis Framework. Right know my collision detection is called from the Movement System but i'm wondering if it's a proper way to do collision detection using such an approach. Right know i'm thinking of a new system dedicated to collision detection that would proceed all the solid entities to check if they are in collision with another one. I'm wondering if it's a correct way to handle collision detection with an entity system approach? Also, how should i implement this collision system? I though of an IntervalEntitySystem that would check every 200ms (this value is chosen regarding the Artemis documentation) if some entities are colliding. protected void processEntities(ImmutableBag<Entity> ib) { for (int i = 0; i < ib.size(); i++) { Entity e = ib.get(i); //check of collision with other entities here } }

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  • Generating geometry when using VBO

    - by onedayitwillmake
    Currently I am working on a project in which I generate geometry based on the players movement. A glorified very long trail, composed of quads. I am doing this by storing a STD::Vector, and removing the oldest verticies once enough exist, and then calling glDrawArrays. I am interested in switching to a shader based model, usually examples I see the VBO is generated at start and then that's basically it. What is the best route to go about creating geometry in real time, using shader / VBO approach

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  • How to use Pixel Bender (pbj) in ActionScript3 on large Vectors to make fast calculations?

    - by Arthur Wulf White
    Remember my old question: 2d game view camera zoom, rotation & offset using 'Filter' / 'Shader' processing? I figured I could use a Pixel Bender Shader to do the computation for any large group of elements in a game to save on processing time. At least it's a theory worth checking. I also read this question: Pass large array to pixel shader Which I'm guessing is about accomplishing the same thing in a different language. I read this tutorial: http://unitzeroone.com/blog/2009/03/18/flash-10-massive-amounts-of-3d-particles-with-alchemy-source-included/ I am attempting to do some tests. Here is some of the code: private const SIZE : int = Math.pow(10, 5); private var testVectorNum : Vector.<Number>; private function testShader():void { shader.data.ab.value = [1.0, 8.0]; shader.data.src.input = testVectorNum; shader.data.src.width = SIZE/400; shader.data.src.height = 100; shaderJob = new ShaderJob(shader, testVectorNum, SIZE / 4, 1); var time : int = getTimer(), i : int = 0; shaderJob.start(true); trace("TEST1 : ", getTimer() - time); } The problem is that I keep getting a error saying: [Fault] exception, information=Error: Error #1000: The system is out of memory. Update: I managed to partially workaround the problem by converting the vector into bitmapData: (Using this technique I still get a speed boost of 3x using Pixel Bender) private function testShader():void { shader.data.ab.value = [1.0, 8.0]; var time : int = getTimer(), i : int = 0; testBitmapData.setVector(testBitmapData.rect, testVectorInt); shader.data.src.input = testBitmapData; shaderJob = new ShaderJob(shader, testBitmapData); shaderJob.start(true); testVectorInt = testBitmapData.getVector(testBitmapData.rect); trace("TEST1 : ", getTimer() - time); }

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  • Shadow mapping: what is the light looking at?

    - by PgrAm
    I'm all set to set up shadow mapping in my 3d engine but there is one thing I am struggling to understand. The scene needs to be rendered from the light's point of view so I simply first move my camera to the light's position but then I need to find out which direction the light is looking. Since its a point light its not shining in any particular direction. How do I figure out what the orientation for the light point of view is?

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  • Checker AI in visual basic not working [on hold]

    - by Eugene Galkine
    I am trying to a make checkers in visual basic with ai. I am using the minimax algorithm (or at least what I understand of it) and it works, except the ai is retarded and plays like it is trying to loose and I tried to switch around the min and the max but the results are IDENTICAL. I am pissed of and have been trying to fix it for over a week now, I would really appreciate it if someone could help me out here. I have 3 years experience of programming (in Java, only about of month of VB experience) and I always am able to solve all my errors on my own so I don't know why I can't get this to work. The program is not at all optimized or anything at this point and is over 1.2K lines long, so here is the entire vb project instead: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/evii0jendn93ir2/9fntwH2dNW I would really appreciate any help I could get.

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  • AndEngine doesn't fill correctly an image on my device

    - by Guille
    I'm learning about AndEngine a little bit, I'm trying to follow a tutorial but I don't get to fill the background image correctly, so, it's just appear in one side of my screen. My device is a Galaxy Nexus (1270x768 I think...). The image is 800x480. The code is: public EngineOptions onCreateEngineOptions() { camera = new Camera(0, 0, 800, 480); EngineOptions engineOptions = new EngineOptions(true, ScreenOrientation.LANDSCAPE_FIXED, new FillResolutionPolicy(), this.camera); engineOptions.getAudioOptions().setNeedsMusic(true).setNeedsSound(true); engineOptions.getRenderOptions().setMultiSampling(true);//.getConfigChooserOptions().setRequestedMultiSampling(true); engineOptions.setWakeLockOptions(WakeLockOptions.SCREEN_ON); return engineOptions; } I have been trying with several values in the camera, but it doesn't fill in all the screen, why?

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  • 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 { //....

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  • 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?

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  • Rotating an object about a point (2D) using box2d

    - by noob
    i just started developing using box2d on flixel and i realise the pivot point of the rotation of an object in box2d is set to the center of an object. i had read on forums and i found out that SetAsBox can change the pivot point of the object, however, i cannot seem to get it work to rotate about a point. what i would like to achieve is to rotate an object about a point like earth revolving around the sun. any one can help me with it? really thanks a lot and sorry for the bad english

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  • How many vertices are needed to draw reasonably good-looking terrain?

    - by bobbaluba
    I have some pretty expensive code in my terrain vertex shader, and I am trying to figure out if it will still be fast enough. I haven't yet developed a level-of-detail system for my terrain rendering, but I can easily benchmark my code by just drawing mock triangles. My problem is, how do I know how many vertices to test with? Are there for example rendering engines that will tell me how many terrain vertices are currently on-screen? Or maybe it is possible to create a formula that will give me an estimate based on screen resolution?

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  • Is it possible to construct a cube with fewer than 24 vertices

    - by Telanor
    I have a cube-based world like Minecraft and I'm wondering if there's a way to construct a cube with fewer than 24 vertices so I can reduce memory usage. It doesn't seem possible to me for 2 reasons: the normals wouldn't come out right and per-face textures wouldn't work. Is this the case or am I wrong? Maybe there's some fancy new DX11 tech that can help? Edit: Just to clarify, I have 2 requirements: I need surface normals for each cube face in order to do proper lighting and I need a way to address a different indexes in a texture array for each cube face

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  • 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

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  • 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.

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  • 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

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  • Game thread, render thread, animation/inverse kinematics, and synchronization

    - by user782220
    In a multithreaded setup with a game logic thread and a render thread, with some kind of skin mesh animation with inverse kinematics plus etc how does animation work? Does the game logic thread just update a number saying time T in the animation and then the render thread infers Who owns the skin mesh animation, the game logic thread or the render thread? How is it stored in the scene graph if it is stored there at all? When the game logic updates does it do the computation of the skin mesh animation and the computation of the inverse kinematics and then store the result directly in the scene graph or is it stored indirectly and the render thread does the computation?

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  • 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?

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