It depends on what you want to do. Here's a simple example: if you want to write games with Unity then basic maths will see you just fine, but if you wanted to write your own competitor to Unity, then you'd need a higher level of maths. Same applies to OGRE, and Bullet, and... the list goes on.
My not-so-old house has toilets with a "continental shell" and a tap to do the flushing, So after the Kenyans get their newfangled MicroToilets, I'd like one of their old ones to replace my shitty (pun intended) Western-style pot.
Quite a few years ago I wrote a J2ME Bluetooth racing game (along with an artist friend). We secured a popular license and publisher for it, and the previews and reviews were good (in real printed magazines!). We then sat back waiting for the mountains of cash to be delivered to our doors. It didn't happen. The game didn't get the exposure we were expecting, for whatever reason.
Not to be deterred, we took an improved version of the game engine (since the license was tied to the publisher) and developed something new. Our previous lesson learned (don't tie yourself into stupid deals) we found a new publisher. A small one, but one who assured us premium placement on a popular brand of handsets. The testing period dragged out, much frustration ensued, but the game finally launched. Again, to good reviews (not as good as before, since this time the game was starting to show its age).
It didn't really sell. Never mind, we said, we can take the it elsewhere. So we took it to one of the bigger publishers, who would give us less of a cut but a lot more exposure. The game by this time was no longer cutting edge. In 2004, when it was originally created, the renderer was impressive. Fast forward to 2007 and it looks shabby next to the other hi-end racing titles.
Anyway, reviews were still okay and the game sold in decent numbers. That smaller cut, when going through multiple aggregators doesn't amount to much per unit, but the rise in sales make up for it. Or they would have done if we'd managed to get any of it from the distributor, who a year after the deal was signed went into receivership without ever paying a penny.
Developing games anonymously for the big guys made money. Pushing our own stuff never did.
I wrote that quite a few years ago - it took about three months (it doesn't have the 'typewriter' cheat, BTW, and is not quite finished but is playable to the end). I'm also working on a Jet Set Willy port but that's some way off completion.
I find that a complete rebuild is very, very rare - most stuff I write is shelved into a library, which depends upon another library, and so on. And I *do* make a living from my programming. Any sitting around and time wasting usually comes from external sources, like, erm, Slashdot.
I know it's older hardware but I use a 400MHz G3 PB (Pismo) on a daily basis for developing Java and I have absolutely no problems with compilation speed - the first time the compiler is run (from Project Builder, CodeWarrior or the shell) takes a while but subsequent builds take no time at all. In CodeWarrior it *feels* no different to using my dual PIII 1GHz Win2k box. Running the apps is a different matter entirely - anything with a GUI takes forever to start up (but command line tools are pretty instant).
And things over here are so different? Daytime TV is full of "where there's blame, there's a claim" advertisements, it's in the newspapers and magazines, and I've been stopped in the street a few times by folks asking if I've "ever been in an accident that wasn't my fault". Compensation culture is on this little island too, mate.
Re:Microsoft Smartphones
on
Java vs .NET
·
· Score: 1
Okay, will all seven Smartphone users raise their hands?!
As much as I'd like the NGage to succeed (I develop mobile titles for a living) it simply won't. It's not a gaming platform, it's a funny looking, expensive phone that plays games. It has a lot of the right ingredients but the awkward, albeit high quality, screen coupled with a proprietary (read expensive) game cart tucked under the battery are just a few of the many annoyances. But, I hear you ask, what about low-cost Java gaming?! Well, J2ME on Nokia's Series 60, for most parts, is inferior to their low cost Series 40 devices. So we're just left with plain old Symbian stuff, which also runs on Nokia's other Series 60 devices, offering no real reason to stump up the cash for an NGage.
'We're already seeing "works only on Nokia 1234 or Ericsson Tfoo platforms" midlets'
It's usually only games that are limited to specific brands - the reason being that plain ol' MIDP is just too limited for throwing graphics around. MIDP2.0 goes a long way to fix this but we'll never totally be rid of phone specific versions.
"GC pauses and portability (consoles) are still issues for Java games"
I write mobile Java games for a living I have to say that pauses caused by garbage collection are not an issue I've come up against in modern (12 month old) phones. And portability isn't too much of an issue either, sure screen sizes are different and manufacturers API differ but it's not *that* problematic.
Anyone looking for a cheaper product to produce royalty free music should take a look at the Music series for Playstation (1 & 2). Music 3000 is the latest incarnation - it squeezes 64 channels of 48kHz sample playback out of the PS2 hardware.
"I'd spent some time using JavaScript without really getting my hands too dirty but I'd pushed it way to far and realized I needed a bigger hammer"JavaScript is a great deal more capable than most people think...
<shameless_plug>Just take a look at my Manic Miner conversion, a 20 level game entirely in JavaScript - it works in most browsers.</shameless_plug> Then take a look over at JavaScript Games.
Windows does have a slightly better uptime than most of the J2ME phones I've used. I'm currently developing for a variety of handsets and only one out of the lot is any good (Nokia 6310i).
It's not only the phones that are bug riddled - most of the tools provided by manufactures (finger pointing at Nokia and Siemens again) are beta versions and the API documentation doesn't tally up with what's on the phone.
Slashdot Mirror
It depends on what you want to do. Here's a simple example: if you want to write games with Unity then basic maths will see you just fine, but if you wanted to write your own competitor to Unity, then you'd need a higher level of maths. Same applies to OGRE, and Bullet, and... the list goes on.
FlexyCore tried the same thing a few years ago with iSpectrum: http://www.flexycore.com/ispectrum-overview.html .They even made the source available:http://www.in-the-box.org/ .
Also sounds like the stuff from eyeSight. I used this a few years ago (on Symbian): http://www.eyesight-tech.com/technology/
My not-so-old house has toilets with a "continental shell" and a tap to do the flushing, So after the Kenyans get their newfangled MicroToilets, I'd like one of their old ones to replace my shitty (pun intended) Western-style pot.
Quite a few years ago I wrote a J2ME Bluetooth racing game (along with an artist friend). We secured a popular license and publisher for it, and the previews and reviews were good (in real printed magazines!). We then sat back waiting for the mountains of cash to be delivered to our doors. It didn't happen. The game didn't get the exposure we were expecting, for whatever reason.
Not to be deterred, we took an improved version of the game engine (since the license was tied to the publisher) and developed something new. Our previous lesson learned (don't tie yourself into stupid deals) we found a new publisher. A small one, but one who assured us premium placement on a popular brand of handsets. The testing period dragged out, much frustration ensued, but the game finally launched. Again, to good reviews (not as good as before, since this time the game was starting to show its age).
It didn't really sell. Never mind, we said, we can take the it elsewhere. So we took it to one of the bigger publishers, who would give us less of a cut but a lot more exposure. The game by this time was no longer cutting edge. In 2004, when it was originally created, the renderer was impressive. Fast forward to 2007 and it looks shabby next to the other hi-end racing titles.
Anyway, reviews were still okay and the game sold in decent numbers. That smaller cut, when going through multiple aggregators doesn't amount to much per unit, but the rise in sales make up for it. Or they would have done if we'd managed to get any of it from the distributor, who a year after the deal was signed went into receivership without ever paying a penny.
Developing games anonymously for the big guys made money. Pushing our own stuff never did.
For the curious, you can grab the game's source code here
Here's a Manic Miner clone I wrote a few years ago entirely in JavaScript: http://www.ellosnuncaloharian.com/online/mm/manicminer.html No plug-ins required and it should work in most browsers.
I wrote that quite a few years ago - it took about three months (it doesn't have the 'typewriter' cheat, BTW, and is not quite finished but is playable to the end). I'm also working on a Jet Set Willy port but that's some way off completion.
And don't forget my own port that runs in a web browser!
I find that a complete rebuild is very, very rare - most stuff I write is shelved into a library, which depends upon another library, and so on. And I *do* make a living from my programming. Any sitting around and time wasting usually comes from external sources, like, erm, Slashdot.
I know it's older hardware but I use a 400MHz G3 PB (Pismo) on a daily basis for developing Java and I have absolutely no problems with compilation speed - the first time the compiler is run (from Project Builder, CodeWarrior or the shell) takes a while but subsequent builds take no time at all. In CodeWarrior it *feels* no different to using my dual PIII 1GHz Win2k box. Running the apps is a different matter entirely - anything with a GUI takes forever to start up (but command line tools are pretty instant).
Worms is also available for Java-based mobiles, for those who just need to play (and annoy other folks) whist sitting on the bus.
And things over here are so different? Daytime TV is full of "where there's blame, there's a claim" advertisements, it's in the newspapers and magazines, and I've been stopped in the street a few times by folks asking if I've "ever been in an accident that wasn't my fault". Compensation culture is on this little island too, mate.
Okay, will all seven Smartphone users raise their hands?!
As much as I'd like the NGage to succeed (I develop mobile titles for a living) it simply won't. It's not a gaming platform, it's a funny looking, expensive phone that plays games. It has a lot of the right ingredients but the awkward, albeit high quality, screen coupled with a proprietary (read expensive) game cart tucked under the battery are just a few of the many annoyances. But, I hear you ask, what about low-cost Java gaming?! Well, J2ME on Nokia's Series 60, for most parts, is inferior to their low cost Series 40 devices. So we're just left with plain old Symbian stuff, which also runs on Nokia's other Series 60 devices, offering no real reason to stump up the cash for an NGage.
'We're already seeing "works only on Nokia 1234 or Ericsson Tfoo platforms" midlets'
It's usually only games that are limited to specific brands - the reason being that plain ol' MIDP is just too limited for throwing graphics around. MIDP2.0 goes a long way to fix this but we'll never totally be rid of phone specific versions.
"As a result, many SMTP servers won't accept SMTP connections from unknown SMTP servers attached to unknown networks."
I'm not an expert in this but isn't it more a case of mail servers not accepting connections from machines with dynamically allocated IP addresses?
"GC pauses and portability (consoles) are still issues for Java games"
I write mobile Java games for a living I have to say that pauses caused by garbage collection are not an issue I've come up against in modern (12 month old) phones. And portability isn't too much of an issue either, sure screen sizes are different and manufacturers API differ but it's not *that* problematic.
Anyone looking for a cheaper product to produce royalty free music should take a look at the Music series for Playstation (1 & 2). Music 3000 is the latest incarnation - it squeezes 64 channels of 48kHz sample playback out of the PS2 hardware.
"I'd spent some time using JavaScript without really getting my hands too dirty but I'd pushed it way to far and realized I needed a bigger hammer"JavaScript is a great deal more capable than most people think...
<shameless_plug>Just take a look at my Manic Miner conversion, a 20 level game entirely in JavaScript - it works in most browsers.</shameless_plug> Then take a look over at JavaScript Games.
"for instance Safari will automatically extract the contents of the DMG file then destroy it when you download one (but other stuff does not, oops)"
This is a feature of the .dmg format known as an Internet-Enabled Disk Image. See: http://developer.apple.com/ue/files/iedi.html
Only the posh kids had Beebs! I bet you even had disk drives with yours?! The Speccy was the only machine for me in the early 80s.
Have you actually used OS X on a modern PowerBook?
It took me a minute to find the button that was going to give me a context menu.
Simply holding the mouse button down for a second or so brings up the context menu. It comes in handy for those one handed surfing sessions...
Windows does have a slightly better uptime than most of the J2ME phones I've used. I'm currently developing for a variety of handsets and only one out of the lot is any good (Nokia 6310i).
It's not only the phones that are bug riddled - most of the tools provided by manufactures (finger pointing at Nokia and Siemens again) are beta versions and the API documentation doesn't tally up with what's on the phone.
Carl.