Through a thing called programming language. The same way we all need to learn how to speak with one another, we need to learn how to properly communicate with a computer.
Not saying we should not teach machines how to understand "natural" language, text interpretation and so on, but that headline is horrible.
I agree that if you want to make a game you must understand that you don`t have the resources to do everything. Being so, the secret here is what you do first and when to stop making new stuff to make the stuff you already have the best you can.
That said there is reason why publishers are hated. They are business only. They care little for creativity. They care only for profit. And you may say that for capitalism in general, but you can`t let that be the guiding line in a creative industry. A industry that relies on creativity to make a profit. That is the great contradiction that publishers face every day.
And what do they seek to solve this problem? QA, Focus group testing, yearly franchises and so on. This industry is inherently risky, and even the most profitable franchise will cease to be profitable on the long run. I don`t know how long it will take for that to happen with CoD but I hope it happens sooner rather than later. If you want to make sure money, go work in a bank or be a MD. This industry is where guys take huge risks, where you bet on competent people and new ideas.
Well... It is very common to go over-budget in most, if not all, games. And the costs of running a business are no secret. Any local, trustworthy accountant (yeah, pretty limited bunch but they exist) can tell exactly how much it will cost. But Kickstarter stretch goals are a completely new beast, and therefore hard to predict.
I don`t have business experience, but it`s pretty obvious to me that, as you make a bigger project, more and more money is spent in management. Management that can barely keep things on track. So, too much management is a money burner, and the reason why I think big corporations are such a waste.
Yes, Tim is pretty good at his job. Full Throttle would be at my Top5 game of all time if I ever bother to make such list. What I meant is all this discussion is blown out of proportion because of hype. If it was a non-kickstarted project it would be canceled and thrown into Limbo until someone really asked about it and the fate was revealed. They were open about what is happening and deserve some kudos for that. And while you can say they have the moral obligation to be open in this case, they could simply smooth talk us all the way into believing everything was fine.
It is a symbol that one of the most successful crowdfunded projects is in such trouble.
Also, I`m very curious to see how many people will get the game at Steam`s Early Access. I believe that crowdfunding completely changes how finished product sale forecasts works. I think veteran devs are expecting to finish the game and still sell as much as they are used to with a strong launch and longtail sales. Remains to be seen.
Like not taking into account the Crowdfunding site share, Paypal transfer tax (depending on where you live and what site you did use), country, state and city taxes. If you are opening a business there are costs for that too. To properly employ someone is very expensive in some countries (guess what: taxes, social security and so on).
People will eventually learn how to calculate all this, but indies went too eager to the crowndfunding bubble and did not consult their accountants to see how much game development actually costs. Ow yes... accountants also cost money.
You could say that Tim was victim of his own success, but I say he was victim to his own creativity combined with over-excitement.
By shiny I meant the fantasy trope where sentient beings are attracted to anything that shines, that grabs their attention for the face value. Yeah, I just said politics are simple-minded as the simplest humanoids.
"Information is power." This is not strictly true, but information multiplies actions` effectiveness. The more information someone has about anyone makes easier to manipulate the victim without anyone`s knowledge. Always keep that in mind.
.. that UN can`t really do anything unless countries support it. Countries where governments are more and more interested in speech restriction so they can keep the shiny power!
And found out that most likely you will never need this math as you already guessed. I`m not good at math either but I like to learn the syntax and principles so they are in my "toolbox" if I ever need it and when I need it I just check how it can really be done. But really: study numerical analysis and numerical calculus, this can come in handy.
the "best and brightest" will just go back to feed the money machine. After all, they are competent and they also need to eat when they`re bankrupt. VCs have money to spare and they will benefit either way.
At 14 I already knew that I would like to develop games. So I bought a pretty lame book about it and coded a bit in C/C++. I could not grasp some concepts so I decided to let it be for the time being. A year later I took classes for Dreamweaver and Flash, and then I finally understood the basic concepts involved in coding. I went to CS college and basic algorithm was pretty straightforward. So yeah... that Flash class taught me how to code.
Here in Brazil we saw comparable situation. Our import taxes pretty much doubled the price of the games. So a few business started to print discs here while the game industry lobby worked on a tax reduction. They got the reduction and guess what? Most games are still the same price as before, with exceptions like Ubisoft that at first reduced the price by 25% (From 200R$ to 150R$), but since then already increased the prices again from 150R$ to 180R$ at launch. They will just increase profit margin per unit and hope people are dumb enough to buy a console that takes away your right as owner of the product.
I don`t but used games, but I respect the right of a user to do to his game as he pleases. Games should not be different from any other physical property. If I pay for someone to build a house, I don`t have to pay the contractor a part of the rent or part of my money if I sell the house. That`s absurd! The difference is that since games still have market value when the original owner is done with them they are trying to milk us once again for our money.
I know better than say that EA is beyond salvation. But that they did some pretty shitty stuff in the past that they did. They destroyed studios` identities changing their names. They use Bioware`s name in anything new they do because they know Bioware has a good reputation.
I have no idea if they will change but one can hope. EA may star at Empire Strikes Back or A New Hope. For now I`m betting the empire will kick gamers` all around the globe pretty soon.
Since EA said it would require Simcity to be always on (Yeah, I predicted correctly that shit would hit the fan at launch just like Diablo 3) I started boycotting EA. Luckily I`ll always have the back catalog of awesome Star War games. Farewell Star Wars games, may the force be with you. And I`m not talking about Starforce.
More than storage capacity, they need software and/or manpower to analyze everything. More likely his superiors just lied to his face about this or he was paid to say such things to make people think twice about doing any rebellious shit.
This is just consequence of the society we live in. We are measured for what we own, so if we can`t pay for something we take it anyway. I think that if the author wants to DRM his/her stuff out it`s a right they have. But usually who goes for DRM is not the creator of the content, but the business that wants to capitalize on the work as much as they think possible.
As the battle for more draconian DRM is fought to harden DRM, consumers will accept it less and less. This will eventually make profits drop because of DRM, we just have to hold the ground. Maybe that`s a naive point of view but I rather believe that can happen than not. I`m sure I`ll make my part.
There`s so much content available nowadays that people can always get DRM free options. For instance: I can hear to heavy metal only available in DRM free services or play games sold without DRM.
Sure your wife has interests in certain themes that are explored in games. In my experience with women (that is not much by any stretch at all) they are not compelled by being a hero or combat like men are. Try more "mundane" experiences first, like The Sims or Harvest Moon for instance. You may not find it very fun but she may. When she gets used to controls (keyboard/mouse or gamepad) and knows that there are games that she may enjoy, introduce co-op games that you can enjoy together. She will already be used to how controls work and should be easier to explore other games, specially with you doing it together. Pick games you never played to start playing with her, so you are both learning together and teaching each other.
IMHO it all depends if the programmer knows that the client will use said feature/software for illicit activity. If the programmer doesn't know them he`s not to blame. Otherwise he is a partner and should be prosecuted as so, specially if the feature in question has the only possible purpose of illegal action.
For years I dreamed about a Linux distro with all the fat out but the bare minimum to run games, so we can get all the power from the hardware. I really hope this can become real but I`m well aware of the hurdles they will face to get to that.
A bit of personal history first. I live in Brazil. Here the "quality" (quotes will be explained later) education comes from public universities. And the selection process is a straight forward test we do at our last year of high school and later if you can/want. We call that Vestibular. Pubic infrastructure is very small, thus statistics points that only around 2%-3% of students end up into a spot inside a public school.
When I was 17, my last year at high school, I got through this test without studying at home and got a spot in the 3rd best college into CS out here. If that don`t inflate egos I don`t know what does. First semester from 6 class I attended I got approved at 2. The problem was my ego telling I did not need to study (based on the misconception that the Vestibular was the hardest test I would ever go through) and the teachers that did not give 2 flying f**** for proper teaching.
Teachers in public universities here can`t be fired unless they kill or someone gets them with their hands on the cookie jar. If they stall 80% of the class they don`t care and no one will make them pay any mind. I had math classes where the teacher reproved literally 99% of all the students he was teaching at that semester with no remorse. That teaches you that a single self-righteous teacher, that has more ego than you can ever do, can do whatever he feels fit just because he thinks his ways are the best. So this is my recipe for ego crushing
P.S.: The quotes on quality means that it`s not the university that teaches the right stuff or the right way, but the ecosystem makes sure that only the most badass student has any chance of finishing a math-related graduation.
When the next generation of consoles gets here PC will "die" all over again... Except for the indie community that will endure regardless of all this and keep doing their thing.
Slashdot Mirror
Through a thing called programming language. The same way we all need to learn how to speak with one another, we need to learn how to properly communicate with a computer.
Not saying we should not teach machines how to understand "natural" language, text interpretation and so on, but that headline is horrible.
I agree that if you want to make a game you must understand that you don`t have the resources to do everything. Being so, the secret here is what you do first and when to stop making new stuff to make the stuff you already have the best you can.
That said there is reason why publishers are hated. They are business only. They care little for creativity. They care only for profit. And you may say that for capitalism in general, but you can`t let that be the guiding line in a creative industry. A industry that relies on creativity to make a profit. That is the great contradiction that publishers face every day.
And what do they seek to solve this problem? QA, Focus group testing, yearly franchises and so on. This industry is inherently risky, and even the most profitable franchise will cease to be profitable on the long run. I don`t know how long it will take for that to happen with CoD but I hope it happens sooner rather than later. If you want to make sure money, go work in a bank or be a MD. This industry is where guys take huge risks, where you bet on competent people and new ideas.
Well... It is very common to go over-budget in most, if not all, games. And the costs of running a business are no secret. Any local, trustworthy accountant (yeah, pretty limited bunch but they exist) can tell exactly how much it will cost. But Kickstarter stretch goals are a completely new beast, and therefore hard to predict.
I don`t have business experience, but it`s pretty obvious to me that, as you make a bigger project, more and more money is spent in management. Management that can barely keep things on track. So, too much management is a money burner, and the reason why I think big corporations are such a waste.
Yes, Tim is pretty good at his job. Full Throttle would be at my Top5 game of all time if I ever bother to make such list. What I meant is all this discussion is blown out of proportion because of hype. If it was a non-kickstarted project it would be canceled and thrown into Limbo until someone really asked about it and the fate was revealed. They were open about what is happening and deserve some kudos for that. And while you can say they have the moral obligation to be open in this case, they could simply smooth talk us all the way into believing everything was fine.
It is a symbol that one of the most successful crowdfunded projects is in such trouble.
Also, I`m very curious to see how many people will get the game at Steam`s Early Access. I believe that crowdfunding completely changes how finished product sale forecasts works. I think veteran devs are expecting to finish the game and still sell as much as they are used to with a strong launch and longtail sales. Remains to be seen.
Like not taking into account the Crowdfunding site share, Paypal transfer tax (depending on where you live and what site you did use), country, state and city taxes. If you are opening a business there are costs for that too. To properly employ someone is very expensive in some countries (guess what: taxes, social security and so on).
People will eventually learn how to calculate all this, but indies went too eager to the crowndfunding bubble and did not consult their accountants to see how much game development actually costs. Ow yes... accountants also cost money.
You could say that Tim was victim of his own success, but I say he was victim to his own creativity combined with over-excitement.
By shiny I meant the fantasy trope where sentient beings are attracted to anything that shines, that grabs their attention for the face value. Yeah, I just said politics are simple-minded as the simplest humanoids.
"Information is power." This is not strictly true, but information multiplies actions` effectiveness. The more information someone has about anyone makes easier to manipulate the victim without anyone`s knowledge. Always keep that in mind.
.. that UN can`t really do anything unless countries support it. Countries where governments are more and more interested in speech restriction so they can keep the shiny power!
And found out that most likely you will never need this math as you already guessed. I`m not good at math either but I like to learn the syntax and principles so they are in my "toolbox" if I ever need it and when I need it I just check how it can really be done. But really: study numerical analysis and numerical calculus, this can come in handy.
the "best and brightest" will just go back to feed the money machine. After all, they are competent and they also need to eat when they`re bankrupt. VCs have money to spare and they will benefit either way.
At 14 I already knew that I would like to develop games. So I bought a pretty lame book about it and coded a bit in C/C++. I could not grasp some concepts so I decided to let it be for the time being. A year later I took classes for Dreamweaver and Flash, and then I finally understood the basic concepts involved in coding. I went to CS college and basic algorithm was pretty straightforward. So yeah... that Flash class taught me how to code.
Here in Brazil we saw comparable situation. Our import taxes pretty much doubled the price of the games. So a few business started to print discs here while the game industry lobby worked on a tax reduction. They got the reduction and guess what? Most games are still the same price as before, with exceptions like Ubisoft that at first reduced the price by 25% (From 200R$ to 150R$), but since then already increased the prices again from 150R$ to 180R$ at launch. They will just increase profit margin per unit and hope people are dumb enough to buy a console that takes away your right as owner of the product.
I don`t but used games, but I respect the right of a user to do to his game as he pleases. Games should not be different from any other physical property. If I pay for someone to build a house, I don`t have to pay the contractor a part of the rent or part of my money if I sell the house. That`s absurd! The difference is that since games still have market value when the original owner is done with them they are trying to milk us once again for our money.
The new Command and Conquer is being made on a studio called Bioware Victory.
I know better than say that EA is beyond salvation. But that they did some pretty shitty stuff in the past that they did. They destroyed studios` identities changing their names. They use Bioware`s name in anything new they do because they know Bioware has a good reputation.
I have no idea if they will change but one can hope. EA may star at Empire Strikes Back or A New Hope. For now I`m betting the empire will kick gamers` all around the globe pretty soon.
Other Starforce mate. Here, this is the Starforce I meant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarForce
Since EA said it would require Simcity to be always on (Yeah, I predicted correctly that shit would hit the fan at launch just like Diablo 3) I started boycotting EA. Luckily I`ll always have the back catalog of awesome Star War games. Farewell Star Wars games, may the force be with you. And I`m not talking about Starforce.
More than storage capacity, they need software and/or manpower to analyze everything. More likely his superiors just lied to his face about this or he was paid to say such things to make people think twice about doing any rebellious shit.
This is just consequence of the society we live in. We are measured for what we own, so if we can`t pay for something we take it anyway. I think that if the author wants to DRM his/her stuff out it`s a right they have. But usually who goes for DRM is not the creator of the content, but the business that wants to capitalize on the work as much as they think possible.
As the battle for more draconian DRM is fought to harden DRM, consumers will accept it less and less. This will eventually make profits drop because of DRM, we just have to hold the ground. Maybe that`s a naive point of view but I rather believe that can happen than not. I`m sure I`ll make my part.
There`s so much content available nowadays that people can always get DRM free options. For instance: I can hear to heavy metal only available in DRM free services or play games sold without DRM.
...to make something undetectable? I detect a failure.
Sure your wife has interests in certain themes that are explored in games. In my experience with women (that is not much by any stretch at all) they are not compelled by being a hero or combat like men are. Try more "mundane" experiences first, like The Sims or Harvest Moon for instance. You may not find it very fun but she may. When she gets used to controls (keyboard/mouse or gamepad) and knows that there are games that she may enjoy, introduce co-op games that you can enjoy together. She will already be used to how controls work and should be easier to explore other games, specially with you doing it together. Pick games you never played to start playing with her, so you are both learning together and teaching each other.
IMHO it all depends if the programmer knows that the client will use said feature/software for illicit activity. If the programmer doesn't know them he`s not to blame. Otherwise he is a partner and should be prosecuted as so, specially if the feature in question has the only possible purpose of illegal action.
For years I dreamed about a Linux distro with all the fat out but the bare minimum to run games, so we can get all the power from the hardware. I really hope this can become real but I`m well aware of the hurdles they will face to get to that.
You just gave another idea to those mad scientists out here that want to create a master race. Instead of diseases they`ll use meteors!
A bit of personal history first. I live in Brazil. Here the "quality" (quotes will be explained later) education comes from public universities. And the selection process is a straight forward test we do at our last year of high school and later if you can/want. We call that Vestibular. Pubic infrastructure is very small, thus statistics points that only around 2%-3% of students end up into a spot inside a public school.
When I was 17, my last year at high school, I got through this test without studying at home and got a spot in the 3rd best college into CS out here. If that don`t inflate egos I don`t know what does. First semester from 6 class I attended I got approved at 2. The problem was my ego telling I did not need to study (based on the misconception that the Vestibular was the hardest test I would ever go through) and the teachers that did not give 2 flying f**** for proper teaching.
Teachers in public universities here can`t be fired unless they kill or someone gets them with their hands on the cookie jar. If they stall 80% of the class they don`t care and no one will make them pay any mind. I had math classes where the teacher reproved literally 99% of all the students he was teaching at that semester with no remorse. That teaches you that a single self-righteous teacher, that has more ego than you can ever do, can do whatever he feels fit just because he thinks his ways are the best. So this is my recipe for ego crushing
P.S.: The quotes on quality means that it`s not the university that teaches the right stuff or the right way, but the ecosystem makes sure that only the most badass student has any chance of finishing a math-related graduation.
When the next generation of consoles gets here PC will "die" all over again... Except for the indie community that will endure regardless of all this and keep doing their thing.