Is there any source for the implementation? I looked around the DTN wiki, googled, and still couldn't find it. Am I blind, or is this still in the "let's brag about it but not share the code" stage?
John Varley has written some books ("Red Thunder" and sequels, IIRC) that very intentionally evoke the feel of the Heinlein juveniles. They're a little silly, but a fun adventure/sci-fi read.
Also, the original Heinlein juvies.
Depending on what OS and software you're working with, and the degree of portability you need, the Tascam FW1884 is a nice audio I/O system with a built in mixing board w/moving faders and fun control-surface-y stuff. The audio editing system my university's theater department teaches on is built around it, and it's pretty nice to work with in most circumstances.
The good: Works pretty well once set up, has 8 XLR / 1/4" TRS inputs with mic preamps and phantom power; nice moving faders, good native integration with Digital Performer; decent integration with ProTools via Mackie control surface protocol emulation.
The bad: It is pretty bulky -- about 2.5' square, and 6" deep. Tascam tech support is more or less nonexistant. I've only used it on a mac; I'm not sure what the Windows/Linux driver situation is like.
Based on what other people are reccomending, its probably overkill, but if you need the feature-set, it ain't a bad little board. Certainly more cost-effective than an M-Audio 002, and more compatible..
For the time being, this looks like a solution in search of a problem, as far as the home market goes. The traditional 'cardboard and plastic' approach does the job well enough and cheaply enough that this sort of gizmo would have to offer significant gameplay advances (and I can't think of any "killer apps" for a game like this) in order to appeal to home audiences.
In addition, it seems to sit at or above the price point of a desktop PC, versus the (relative) inexpense of a console system. If we consider board games and tabletop RPGs as the "console systems" of the tabletop gaming world, this thing is going to have to provide a lot of value above and beyond those sorts of inexpensive games in order to attract buyers. As opposed to consoles, PCs have the ability to run all sorts of useful software that addresses needs other than gaming. What can this thing do?
That said, I could see this working as a casino gimick. Most bars probably couldn't support the cost of the thing, but if they can provide a way to gamble on it, casinos will probably snatch up at least a few.
I was involved in my university's AUVSI/IAR team two years ago. I didn't have enough CS background to participate in the development, but I did a lot of work building up and modifying the ARF airframe we purchased for our competition use (that mainly consisted of building new higher-lift airfoils and making mounting arrangements for our camera and control system). I attended meetings and talked to the programmers and from what I know, GPS was almost invaluable in our solution. You can achieve kind-of-the-same sort of accuracy with an inertial guidance system and a known take-off point (which is what US fighter aircraft did for non-radio navigation in the pre-GPS days) but that lacks the same precision, and isn't nearly as simple as plugging in a GPS receiver that spits out coordinates in an immediately-useful fashion.
So the no-GPS thing -is- a real difference between the competitions.
An aside: When I was involved, we didn't have to actually fly -into- the building. This sounds like it tilts the playing field very far in favor of helicopters or other VTOL solutions.. but that's not relevant to the NASA prize.
I'm a Cornell University student, and I use my Powerbook during many of my long lecture classes to browse, as well as take notes. I'm in the film program, and most of my classes tend to be 2-3 hours long, and occasionally my brain needs something to think about besides the relatively dry theoretical content that's discussed.
I've noticed that when class discussions get interesting, heated, or something other than monotone, and I have an interest in actively participating, I close my laptop and listen more attentively. But in most cases, I can handle both the text and the lecture "data stream" concurrently. If anything, giving my mind something to do other than passively receive content. I also find myself looking up sites related to what we're discussing, if its actually interesting. Strange as it seems, sometimes dividing my attention actually lets me focus on stuff I'm less interested in.
I realize that to a certain extent, I'm probably hurting myself by tuning out "less interesting" material. But, at the same time, before I had my laptop, I took notes in spiral notebooks and they'd often be punctuated by long stretches of doodles where the lecture became to dry to hold my attention by itself. I was a 3.5-ish student before I got my laptop, and I'm still a 3.5-ish student today.
While I can't say I'm a huge fan of the Halo franchise -- I've played the first game on a friend's xbox, and enjoyed the PC demo's multiplayer for about half an hour when it came out -- I understand that the novelizations aren't half bad, and I'd hate to see Uwe Boll do the Halo universe the same damage he's done to other titles I'm attached to. I refuse to watch the Alone in the Dark movie because, from what I've heard, what he did to the story isn't worth my time, nevermind my money.
Under no circumstances would a movie based on Halo ever be great cinema. But the fans deserve more than a Boll treatment. I'm not sure if Jackson is the man with the job, but there have to be plenty of decent directors who wouldn't mind taking on what's likely to be a reasonably succesful film for its genre, if its done right.
Re:Narrative is the weakest point
on
Power Up
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· Score: 1
Given the popularity of Japanese animation and gaming outside of Japan (at least among certain demographics), the statement "the perfect game" might be more accurate if rewritten, "the perfect game for {Western|American} mainstream audiences."
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Is there any source for the implementation? I looked around the DTN wiki, googled, and still couldn't find it. Am I blind, or is this still in the "let's brag about it but not share the code" stage?
This seems like it's showing correlations, not necessarily causal relationships. Still, neat stuff.
John Varley has written some books ("Red Thunder" and sequels, IIRC) that very intentionally evoke the feel of the Heinlein juveniles. They're a little silly, but a fun adventure/sci-fi read. Also, the original Heinlein juvies.
Depending on what OS and software you're working with, and the degree of portability you need, the Tascam FW1884 is a nice audio I/O system with a built in mixing board w/moving faders and fun control-surface-y stuff. The audio editing system my university's theater department teaches on is built around it, and it's pretty nice to work with in most circumstances. The good: Works pretty well once set up, has 8 XLR / 1/4" TRS inputs with mic preamps and phantom power; nice moving faders, good native integration with Digital Performer; decent integration with ProTools via Mackie control surface protocol emulation. The bad: It is pretty bulky -- about 2.5' square, and 6" deep. Tascam tech support is more or less nonexistant. I've only used it on a mac; I'm not sure what the Windows/Linux driver situation is like. Based on what other people are reccomending, its probably overkill, but if you need the feature-set, it ain't a bad little board. Certainly more cost-effective than an M-Audio 002, and more compatible..
For the time being, this looks like a solution in search of a problem, as far as the home market goes. The traditional 'cardboard and plastic' approach does the job well enough and cheaply enough that this sort of gizmo would have to offer significant gameplay advances (and I can't think of any "killer apps" for a game like this) in order to appeal to home audiences.
In addition, it seems to sit at or above the price point of a desktop PC, versus the (relative) inexpense of a console system. If we consider board games and tabletop RPGs as the "console systems" of the tabletop gaming world, this thing is going to have to provide a lot of value above and beyond those sorts of inexpensive games in order to attract buyers. As opposed to consoles, PCs have the ability to run all sorts of useful software that addresses needs other than gaming. What can this thing do?
That said, I could see this working as a casino gimick. Most bars probably couldn't support the cost of the thing, but if they can provide a way to gamble on it, casinos will probably snatch up at least a few.
I was involved in my university's AUVSI/IAR team two years ago. I didn't have enough CS background to participate in the development, but I did a lot of work building up and modifying the ARF airframe we purchased for our competition use (that mainly consisted of building new higher-lift airfoils and making mounting arrangements for our camera and control system). I attended meetings and talked to the programmers and from what I know, GPS was almost invaluable in our solution. You can achieve kind-of-the-same sort of accuracy with an inertial guidance system and a known take-off point (which is what US fighter aircraft did for non-radio navigation in the pre-GPS days) but that lacks the same precision, and isn't nearly as simple as plugging in a GPS receiver that spits out coordinates in an immediately-useful fashion.
So the no-GPS thing -is- a real difference between the competitions.
An aside: When I was involved, we didn't have to actually fly -into- the building. This sounds like it tilts the playing field very far in favor of helicopters or other VTOL solutions.. but that's not relevant to the NASA prize.
I'm a Cornell University student, and I use my Powerbook during many of my long lecture classes to browse, as well as take notes. I'm in the film program, and most of my classes tend to be 2-3 hours long, and occasionally my brain needs something to think about besides the relatively dry theoretical content that's discussed.
I've noticed that when class discussions get interesting, heated, or something other than monotone, and I have an interest in actively participating, I close my laptop and listen more attentively. But in most cases, I can handle both the text and the lecture "data stream" concurrently. If anything, giving my mind something to do other than passively receive content. I also find myself looking up sites related to what we're discussing, if its actually interesting. Strange as it seems, sometimes dividing my attention actually lets me focus on stuff I'm less interested in.
I realize that to a certain extent, I'm probably hurting myself by tuning out "less interesting" material. But, at the same time, before I had my laptop, I took notes in spiral notebooks and they'd often be punctuated by long stretches of doodles where the lecture became to dry to hold my attention by itself. I was a 3.5-ish student before I got my laptop, and I'm still a 3.5-ish student today.
While I can't say I'm a huge fan of the Halo franchise -- I've played the first game on a friend's xbox, and enjoyed the PC demo's multiplayer for about half an hour when it came out -- I understand that the novelizations aren't half bad, and I'd hate to see Uwe Boll do the Halo universe the same damage he's done to other titles I'm attached to. I refuse to watch the Alone in the Dark movie because, from what I've heard, what he did to the story isn't worth my time, nevermind my money. Under no circumstances would a movie based on Halo ever be great cinema. But the fans deserve more than a Boll treatment. I'm not sure if Jackson is the man with the job, but there have to be plenty of decent directors who wouldn't mind taking on what's likely to be a reasonably succesful film for its genre, if its done right.
Given the popularity of Japanese animation and gaming outside of Japan (at least among certain demographics), the statement "the perfect game" might be more accurate if rewritten, "the perfect game for {Western|American} mainstream audiences."