It strikes me that this is the way any good engineer would want to go about things.
We all have an attachment to the products and software we create and work on. We all want the software to be the best that we can possibly make it. Open discussion and critique with knowledgeable users is generally one of the better ways to go about this.
As an aside I think that's one of open source's biggest draws. Everyone can contribute to making better software just by using it and talking about it.
Most Unis have enough trouble trying to teach people how to write good code for 1k line projects. Big projects are well beyond their scope.
Large-scale software engineering is just something you have to be involved in before you can really understand why the methodologies exist. Most graduates who get taught different approaches don't have the experience to see why they're needed.
Companies need to understand this and take the time to train their fresh coders and make sure they're doing things right.
BS. Programmers are like actors in movies. Sure they're vitally important but without the huge support group making scores, costumes, scripts, sound effects, CGI, directing, producing, and just shooting the damn thing you wont end up with much of a movie.
Just like with any modern game you'll need a soundtrack, sound effects, level design, textures, models, animations, voice-overs and a good story.
Honestly one good texture artist is worth their weight in gold. Far more than any coder but the lead at any rate.
I doubt most people care whether or not virii is technically correct. Words ending in '-uses' are plain ugly to read and speak, so it's not altogether surprising that people would prefer to use a shorter and more aesthetically pleasing word.
Users will pay for content when other users stop providing it for free.
When companies have to compete with users who will provide information for free, (at around the same quality) they'll never be in a position to charge for it.
I agree. This was not a premeditated act to destroy someone's life. It was a mistake caused by an incompetent action, and while he does deserve to face punishment for it that doesn't mean that another life should be ruined simply for the sake of spiteful retribution.
My sister was killed in a similar accident and although it was a horrible thing, I do not resent the driver for being a fallible human.
Punishment for the sake of vengeance in cases such as these is a feeling I hope many of us can look past.
Take one look at online first person shooter games and you'll notice that the most popular games out there at the moment are free modifications for commercial games. Would half-life have sold as many copies as it had without counter-strike and other modifications?
Mods can mean a lot of money to developers, and I think in coming years we'll see this with financial support from the primary studios for established mod development teams. This would mean developers could concentrate on the single player story and hire an outside mod team to work on multiplayer additions. For example say if id software hired crt to work on rocket arena for doom3 to be included in the finished product.
Just think? Would of UT2003 sold more copies if something like counter-strike, Natural Selection or team fortress been included in the release?
It's certainly not the only route indys can take but given the overhead for most fps now days it seems to be one of the most viable.
Re:What all 3D games are really missing
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New DOOM III Shots
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The problem with this idea is that it isn't just the weapon physics that have a problem. Things like changing direction instantaneously, jumping huge vertical distances etc, while they adding to ease and fun of playing the games are completely inhuman stunts. With correct projectile physics it means that jumping and firing a weapon would result in the projectile hitting the ceiling.
As for retraining your skills I'm going to assume you haven't actually tried playing in this type of environment. With fanciful weapons used in quake like games you can almost strafe as fast some of the projectiles. It's extremely hard to aim a projectile that heads at 45 degrees from its intended path and it's not particularly enjoyable.
Basically while the train scenario could be improved, due to the inhuman actions of the avatars in even realistic games it's not likely you'll ever see correct physics used throughout a game.
Gesture navigation is slow with a mouse, and because of that gimicy. It's much faster to use a shortcut key or click the appropriate button. Tablets are a bit different but aren't really all that common in genral.
I would hesitate to call holding a button down and moving the mouse right (or left. Depends on if you want to pull the page to the mouse, or move the mouse to the page) to go back in a browser a gesture. In the most basic sence it is, but it seems more akin to the way you push and pull veiws around in 3D programs.
If anything I'd like to see the other features of black and white such as pushing your veiw around, and zooming in and out become common in a gui.
Pulling your veiw around is, I find, a much easier way to scroll than any other method with a mouse. A shame it's not an option with most programs.
Zooming in would also be great for changing context levels.
eg. Imagine going to slashdot and seeing everything as it is currently. Then holding your mouse button and pulling back to zoom out and see only the current headlines. Move your mouse over a headline and zoom in to center it on the page as it would apear normally. Then zoom in again to get comments. Zoom in even further on a post to see its threads. Then it would only take a few seconds to zoom all the way out again. Just like B&W. Clicking links doesn't allow context change that quickly.
Slashdot is probably a bad example because connections aren't generally fast enough to allow this, but if you continue the idea onto other apps, I'm sure you can see the posible advantages of using the mouse to change context levels quickly.
As long as the adds aren't shoved in front of your face, and they're used tastefully this prospect isn't that bad.
Of course I wouldn't want to be playing a medieval rpg and see a 'coke' billboard on a castle wall or something similar, but I seriously doubt a top notch developer would let that type of thing happen anyway.
The only concern I have is with advertising to children. Children are very susceptible to TV advertising, and would probably be even more so to in-game advertising where the obvious barriers between content and advertising don't exist like they do with other mediums. Unfortunatly this would probably be the main demographic area advertisers would like to work with.:(
Slashdot Mirror
It strikes me that this is the way any good engineer would want to go about things.
We all have an attachment to the products and software we create and work on. We all want the software to be the best that we can possibly make it. Open discussion and critique with knowledgeable users is generally one of the better ways to go about this.
As an aside I think that's one of open source's biggest draws. Everyone can contribute to making better software just by using it and talking about it.
This would be sweet. Finally I could carry around a mobile jammer so some dickhead in the theatre doesn't interrupt the movie.
Welcome to the Slashdot Pronunciation Dictionary.
Please enter a word to get its associated pronunciation:
>interview: Pronunciation = "INTEVW"
>slashdot: Pronunciation = "/."
>grammar: Pronunciation = "WTF"
Most Unis have enough trouble trying to teach people how to write good code for 1k line projects. Big projects are well beyond their scope.
Large-scale software engineering is just something you have to be involved in before you can really understand why the methodologies exist. Most graduates who get taught different approaches don't have the experience to see why they're needed.
Companies need to understand this and take the time to train their fresh coders and make sure they're doing things right.
BS. Programmers are like actors in movies. Sure they're vitally important but without the huge support group making scores, costumes, scripts, sound effects, CGI, directing, producing, and just shooting the damn thing you wont end up with much of a movie.
Just like with any modern game you'll need a soundtrack, sound effects, level design, textures, models, animations, voice-overs and a good story.
Honestly one good texture artist is worth their weight in gold. Far more than any coder but the lead at any rate.
I doubt most people care whether or not virii is technically correct. Words ending in '-uses' are plain ugly to read and speak, so it's not altogether surprising that people would prefer to use a shorter and more aesthetically pleasing word.
Users will pay for content when other users stop providing it for free.
When companies have to compete with users who will provide information for free, (at around the same quality) they'll never be in a position to charge for it.
Um yeah, so the fact that most of the population has sped at least once in their lives means speed limits should be abolished... right.
I agree. This was not a premeditated act to destroy someone's life. It was a mistake caused by an incompetent action, and while he does deserve to face punishment for it that doesn't mean that another life should be ruined simply for the sake of spiteful retribution.
My sister was killed in a similar accident and although it was a horrible thing, I do not resent the driver for being a fallible human.
Punishment for the sake of vengeance in cases such as these is a feeling I hope many of us can look past.
Take one look at online first person shooter games and you'll notice that the most popular games out there at the moment are free modifications for commercial games. Would half-life have sold as many copies as it had without counter-strike and other modifications?
Mods can mean a lot of money to developers, and I think in coming years we'll see this with financial support from the primary studios for established mod development teams. This would mean developers could concentrate on the single player story and hire an outside mod team to work on multiplayer additions. For example say if id software hired crt to work on rocket arena for doom3 to be included in the finished product.
Just think? Would of UT2003 sold more copies if something like counter-strike, Natural Selection or team fortress been included in the release?
It's certainly not the only route indys can take but given the overhead for most fps now days it seems to be one of the most viable.
The problem with this idea is that it isn't just the weapon physics that have a problem. Things like changing direction instantaneously, jumping huge vertical distances etc, while they adding to ease and fun of playing the games are completely inhuman stunts. With correct projectile physics it means that jumping and firing a weapon would result in the projectile hitting the ceiling.
As for retraining your skills I'm going to assume you haven't actually tried playing in this type of environment. With fanciful weapons used in quake like games you can almost strafe as fast some of the projectiles. It's extremely hard to aim a projectile that heads at 45 degrees from its intended path and it's not particularly enjoyable.
Basically while the train scenario could be improved, due to the inhuman actions of the avatars in even realistic games it's not likely you'll ever see correct physics used throughout a game.
Gesture navigation is slow with a mouse, and because of that gimicy. It's much faster to use a shortcut key or click the appropriate button. Tablets are a bit different but aren't really all that common in genral. I would hesitate to call holding a button down and moving the mouse right (or left. Depends on if you want to pull the page to the mouse, or move the mouse to the page) to go back in a browser a gesture. In the most basic sence it is, but it seems more akin to the way you push and pull veiws around in 3D programs. If anything I'd like to see the other features of black and white such as pushing your veiw around, and zooming in and out become common in a gui. Pulling your veiw around is, I find, a much easier way to scroll than any other method with a mouse. A shame it's not an option with most programs. Zooming in would also be great for changing context levels. eg. Imagine going to slashdot and seeing everything as it is currently. Then holding your mouse button and pulling back to zoom out and see only the current headlines. Move your mouse over a headline and zoom in to center it on the page as it would apear normally. Then zoom in again to get comments. Zoom in even further on a post to see its threads. Then it would only take a few seconds to zoom all the way out again. Just like B&W. Clicking links doesn't allow context change that quickly. Slashdot is probably a bad example because connections aren't generally fast enough to allow this, but if you continue the idea onto other apps, I'm sure you can see the posible advantages of using the mouse to change context levels quickly.
As long as the adds aren't shoved in front of your face, and they're used tastefully this prospect isn't that bad.
:(
Of course I wouldn't want to be playing a medieval rpg and see a 'coke' billboard on a castle wall or something similar, but I seriously doubt a top notch developer would let that type of thing happen anyway.
The only concern I have is with advertising to children. Children are very susceptible to TV advertising, and would probably be even more so to in-game advertising where the obvious barriers between content and advertising don't exist like they do with other mediums. Unfortunatly this would probably be the main demographic area advertisers would like to work with.
It is also slang in Australia, with a meaning similar to the the American usage of 'damn'.