Our game has mutated into an odd, surly amalgam of statistics over its development. When you create a character, you end up with some variation of five primary statistics. Their proportions correlate to a character class, which has a unique mutation (hey, it's post-apocalypse) that grants you specific bonuses that only that class has. Items and further mutations can enhance your base statistics permanently or temporarily (IE: +1 Strength) or give you bonuses (IE: +1 Critical Strike, +1 Movement, +2 Commercial Acumen). In our case, "bonuses" could also be called "skills". Certain content in the game is available only to a particular character class, while other parts require a minimum statistic or bonus.
It's very flexible, but potentially confusing, and we're still looking for that magical balance.
If an Indie game developer tries to make a game to stand up against the "WoWs, FFs, and EQs of the world" their efforts WILL suck in comparison. Successful Indie developers (which I define as those that make at least a comfortable living making their games) don't try to compete at that level. They take a unique idea with a unique approach, or more often, try to appeal to the casual gamer (or they do both). The biggest problem for a decent Indie game is cutting through the noise of lesser works when you have something truly special.
We use this in our game. Hope it helps you a bit (sorry about the/.-limited formatting):/* Gathers form data inside parent node (any item with a value and an id). */ function form_data(node) {var result='';var s='';var cn;for(var i=0;i<node.childNodes.length;i++) {cn=node.childNodes[i];if(cn.id){if(cn.type!='butt on') {if(cn.type=="checkbox" || cn.type=="radio") {result+="&"+cn.id+"="+cn.checked;} else if(cn.value!=undefined) {s = cn.value.replace(/\&/g,"%26");s = s.replace(/\+/g,"%2b");s = s.replace(/\%/g,"%25"); result+="&"+cn.id+"="+s;}}}result+=form_data(cn);} return result;}
I hear you there...thought it's not that big a loss for our game. I experimented with integrating AdSense into our game's content, which actually worked for a while. At first the ads anaylzed the dynamic content within the same context and provided appropriate ads (and very funny...you'd have to be familiar with the game and have seen the ads to fully appreciate it). A day or two after Google's crawlers tried unsuccessfully to index that part of the game, the ads reverted to PSAs. I tried to work with Google on it, but it turned out what I was doing was actually against AdSense policy, and they weren't interested in supporting dynamic content.
We ended up creating our own library for our browser-based game. There weren't any good freely available ones when we started. Data is returned in JSON instead of XML, where each key=>value pair indicates a bit of script that is executed or a DOM object that is updated (rough overview). If the object is a div, the value goes into innerHTML or the textNode; if it's a button it goes into the caption; for a checkbox the value is parsed into the checked property, etc. A single returned "set" will have several of these, so it often sends back a small chunk of HTML, with subsequent orders setting its contents and adjusting the interface.
The server code has a DOM class with methods to send scripts, HTML, etc. with all the URL encoding/quote escaping/etc. handled automatically. It continues to be refined but already enables us to do some really nifty stuff.
Later I integrated the Prototype library, and it does seem to do a better job of handling XMLHttpRequests than our original library did.
Funny, I don't remember acting that way toward my students. I frequently awarded high marks to those that creatively solved problems in such ways (including specifically the egg drop one). Maybe it's your personal experience in school, but don't make a blanket remark like that...especially such a profane one...about any group just because you've had bad experiences with some.
For those that can get past an oddly-burning need for cutting-edge 3D,we're working on a web-based post-apocalypse game (check my sig). It's still definitely a beta, is pretty goofy, and isn't anything close to WoW. We like it though.
I saved money for months to buy one of those. Wrote my first games on it, including a Tie-Fighter knockoff, text-based boxing...all sorts of silly stuff. "Madman on a Snowmobile" was my favorite.
Next came a whole series of Commodore...ah, the memories.
The 30-minute bit caught my attention. You might find these repetitive, at least some of the time, but you should take a look. They're both free, and browser based (no Java, Flash, etc.).
1. Kingdom of Loathing still cracks me up, especially the stick-figure graphics.
2. I'm a little scared to toot my own horn on/. with this, but a couple of us are working on another game: Mutant Freaks of Nature.
Hear, hear! I'm a developer making a nice living in Oklahoma also (and a side business).
I'd also like to add that generally speaking, the people here are about the nicest I've ever been around in the country. There are always exceptions in any population, but people here are some of the friendliest and hardest-working I've known anywhere.
Granted, but after a typical development time span (1-2 years for a small indie game), what will be the market penetration of.NET and DX9? If you've installed a new game over the last year, you probably have DX9. If you run XP, you probably have.NET. In two years this will be even more true, making this issue moot.
OpenGL, SDL, DirectX, 3rd party engines, etc. are all well and good...but what about PHP? Particularly with AJAX, a whole new world of possibility exists. We're working on a RPG that does just this. While not graphic heavy, it does look nice and is amazing snappy even over a 28.8k connection. And there's no download.
I heartily second that.
I wish I could point you toward another web-based browser game (that we're currently developing), but a) It's not ready for public consumption yet, and b) I don't want the servers to die before it even opens.:)
Sure, but considering that it's currently supported by IE, Moz/FF, and (nominally) by Opera...so what? We're using the hell out of this at work, and it makes the development SO much slicker.
As a former public school teacher, I have to ask you about your $/pupil analaysis...how many of those nations spending less money per student yet scoring higher on the tests are actually including ALL children, and not just the ones that have tested well for entrance, have no disabilities, etc.?
My experience was that 75%-85% of educational resources are spent on "special needs" students. A big part of this is the notion that they should be included with "normal" children in "normal" classrooms. I'm not aware of any other countries that supposedly outperform us that do the same.
Slashdot Mirror
Our game has mutated into an odd, surly amalgam of statistics over its development. When you create a character, you end up with some variation of five primary statistics. Their proportions correlate to a character class, which has a unique mutation (hey, it's post-apocalypse) that grants you specific bonuses that only that class has. Items and further mutations can enhance your base statistics permanently or temporarily (IE: +1 Strength) or give you bonuses (IE: +1 Critical Strike, +1 Movement, +2 Commercial Acumen). In our case, "bonuses" could also be called "skills". Certain content in the game is available only to a particular character class, while other parts require a minimum statistic or bonus.
It's very flexible, but potentially confusing, and we're still looking for that magical balance.
If an Indie game developer tries to make a game to stand up against the "WoWs, FFs, and EQs of the world" their efforts WILL suck in comparison. Successful Indie developers (which I define as those that make at least a comfortable living making their games) don't try to compete at that level. They take a unique idea with a unique approach, or more often, try to appeal to the casual gamer (or they do both). The biggest problem for a decent Indie game is cutting through the noise of lesser works when you have something truly special.
We use this in our game. Hope it helps you a bit (sorry about the /.-limited formatting): /* Gathers form data inside parent node (any item with a value and an id). */t on') {if(cn.type=="checkbox" || cn.type=="radio") {result+="&"+cn.id+"="+cn.checked;} else if(cn.value!=undefined) {s = cn.value.replace(/\&/g,"%26");s = s.replace(/\+/g,"%2b");s = s.replace(/\%/g,"%25"); result+="&"+cn.id+"="+s;}}}result+=form_data(cn);} return result;}
function form_data(node) {var result='';var s='';var cn;for(var i=0;i<node.childNodes.length;i++) {cn=node.childNodes[i];if(cn.id){if(cn.type!='but
I hear you there...thought it's not that big a loss for our game. I experimented with integrating AdSense into our game's content, which actually worked for a while. At first the ads anaylzed the dynamic content within the same context and provided appropriate ads (and very funny...you'd have to be familiar with the game and have seen the ads to fully appreciate it). A day or two after Google's crawlers tried unsuccessfully to index that part of the game, the ads reverted to PSAs. I tried to work with Google on it, but it turned out what I was doing was actually against AdSense policy, and they weren't interested in supporting dynamic content.
The server code has a DOM class with methods to send scripts, HTML, etc. with all the URL encoding/quote escaping/etc. handled automatically. It continues to be refined but already enables us to do some really nifty stuff.
Later I integrated the Prototype library, and it does seem to do a better job of handling XMLHttpRequests than our original library did.
People that are geeky enough to be able to
Funny, I don't remember acting that way toward my students. I frequently awarded high marks to those that creatively solved problems in such ways (including specifically the egg drop one). Maybe it's your personal experience in school, but don't make a blanket remark like that...especially such a profane one...about any group just because you've had bad experiences with some.
May you all have mercy upon our poor server.
Next came a whole series of Commodore...ah, the memories.
1. Kingdom of Loathing still cracks me up, especially the stick-figure graphics. /. with this, but a couple of us are working on another game: Mutant Freaks of Nature.
2. I'm a little scared to toot my own horn on
In MY day, the rich used the stars to navigate. My family couldn't afford them, so we used moss.
And we were GRATEFUL.
I'd also like to add that generally speaking, the people here are about the nicest I've ever been around in the country. There are always exceptions in any population, but people here are some of the friendliest and hardest-working I've known anywhere.
It's at least as relevant as the various comments about Microsoft Office, the RIAA, and various individual's dogs. And it's quite a bit more true.
Granted, but after a typical development time span (1-2 years for a small indie game), what will be the market penetration of .NET and DX9? If you've installed a new game over the last year, you probably have DX9. If you run XP, you probably have .NET. In two years this will be even more true, making this issue moot.
Our game is in a sort of early Final Fantasy style, but think more Wasteland. Still one of my favorite games.
OpenGL, SDL, DirectX, 3rd party engines, etc. are all well and good...but what about PHP? Particularly with AJAX, a whole new world of possibility exists. We're working on a RPG that does just this. While not graphic heavy, it does look nice and is amazing snappy even over a 28.8k connection. And there's no download.
I heartily second that. I wish I could point you toward another web-based browser game (that we're currently developing), but a) It's not ready for public consumption yet, and b) I don't want the servers to die before it even opens. :)
It's our in-house library, written from scratch. Pretty easy to put together, really.
The term "unclean" is offensive to some people. Please use the term "sanitarily challenged".
The current iteration of our AJAX library handles IE, Moz, and Opera. While there are browser checks, they're not overly cumbersome.
It works beautifully in all three.
Sure, but considering that it's currently supported by IE, Moz/FF, and (nominally) by Opera...so what? We're using the hell out of this at work, and it makes the development SO much slicker.
Interesting that my comment was marked as flamebait...did I hit a bit too close to the mark, or was I unforgiveably rude in my wording?
As a former public school teacher, I have to ask you about your $/pupil analaysis...how many of those nations spending less money per student yet scoring higher on the tests are actually including ALL children, and not just the ones that have tested well for entrance, have no disabilities, etc.? My experience was that 75%-85% of educational resources are spent on "special needs" students. A big part of this is the notion that they should be included with "normal" children in "normal" classrooms. I'm not aware of any other countries that supposedly outperform us that do the same.
And my thanks for the person that modded this down as offtopic from it's unjustly lofty score of 1.
I simply HAD to respond to this sig. I mean, I thought I was the only one!