At 11/25/09 02:51 PM, Xeptic wrote:

At 11/25/09 02:23 PM, Paranoia wrote:

At 11/25/09 12:10 PM, Xeptic wrote: If a game is played by millions of people, it's not a bad game

Bull.

Explain yourself. IMO It's not bull. It just depends on your definition of a good game. Millions of people play Farmville, or whatever it's called, so someone did something right there. That makes it a good game/concept in my opinion. It apparently has a quality that makes the game very appealing to a huge crowd. Not ever having played the game I can't say what that quality is, but it's there.

Farmville is formula-built. Zynga's marketing department pulled out calculators and decided what numbers to pump into the game to ensure maximum profit.

It's simple really, ADDICTION is not the same as FUN. People have a psychological need to "complete" things and accomplish goals.

i.e. what I made with edmund earlier in the year:

AVGM, by Bluebaby Type: Game Rating: Adults Only

It is NOT a good game by any measure. It's a formula, how long can we get people to play a pointless game for. People completed the game too! Just read the reviews, people complete it and still give it a bad score cause it's "stupid".

This is EXACTLY what Zynga is doing. They are getting people to play a dumb game for longer than they would like to.

I listened to a rep from their company talk about how they make games at the flash gaming summit. Their secret? They build one game that they can reskin to different themes. If someone else's game with a theme starts getting popular, Zynga notes the trend and skins their engine for that theme.

It's 100% marketing.

A product can be successful but not be quality. I have a vizio TV. It's an extremely successful brand (cause it's cheap).

Had it for 2 years. Recently it's been freezing, and not responding to the remote or button presses while frozen (unplugging it and plugging it back in fixes it). The warranty is up. It's quality is not good, but it's an extremely successful brand.

At 11/23/09 10:27 AM, liaaaam wrote:

At 11/23/09 04:15 AM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote: no link, screenshot

Pretty. How is the animation (i.e. different frames) stored, is it sequential enough to just loop through and draw an object (the shape/movieclip) frame by frame?

each SWFSprite has a list of children (which can be either SWFSprites or SWFShapes. Shapes have no timeline, so once I hit a shape I can render it without having to worry about children).

Each SWFSprite has an array of frames. On each frame, there's a depth-sorted list of which child to render and with what transformation matrix. Children can be referenced more than once.

The SWF format stores timelines as a list of commands (basically what's different about this frame compared to the previous one) so at decode time I simulate the timeline and construct each frame and store it in a more direct manor to allow jumping around to any frame I want.

At 11/23/09 01:41 AM, fluffkomix wrote: link pls

no link, screenshot

MUAHAHAHA it WORKS!!!

IT'S ALIVE

I literally laughed out loud when I saw it working... like mad scientist laugh. I don't know what came over me but it was crazy awesome to see a SWF play at 2500 FPS (even if there's no fills and it's all just outlines right now). Crazy awesome

After getting headaches from the fact that the SWF format has blatant wrong information in it, I finally got it to decode shapes

Tag: FileAttributes
Tag: Metadata
Tag: SetBackgroundColor
Tag: DefineSceneAndFrameLabelData
Tag: DefineShape4 [ID=1]
 |  Move To [(-224.3, 55)]
 |  Line To [(-56, -113.3)]
 |  Line To [(112.3, 55)]
 |  Line To [(-56, 223.3)]
 |  Line To [(-224.3, 55)]
 |  End Shape
Tag: DefineShape4 [ID=2]
 |  Move To [(-55, -105)]
 |  Line To [(-57.2, -104.6)]
 |  Style Change
 |  Line To [(-54.75, -100.45)]
 |  Curve To [(-48.55, -94.6), (-44.55, -88.65)]
 |  Curve To [(-29.05, -88.65), (-12.5, -73)]
 |  Curve To [(23.5, -86.5), (26.3, -86.5)]
 |  Curve To [(32.5, -86.5), (68.5, -100)]
 |  Line To [(86.8, -98.9)]
 |  Curve To [(106.85, -94), (127, -92)]
 |  Curve To [(155, -51.8), (197.85, -41.35)]
 |  Curve To [(204, -26.85), (213.3, -13.55)]
 |  Curve To [(213.3, -10.15), (218, 1)]
 |  Curve To [(211.2, 27.7), (211.2, 53.45)]
 |  Curve To [(199.6, 75), (193, 101.05)]
 |  Curve To [(178.45, 113.55), (166.55, 135.55)]
 |  Curve To [(150.6, 135.55), (135, 148.85)]
 |  Curve To [(128, 141.45), (121.2, 141.45)]
 |  Line To [(116.6, 136.3)]
 |  Curve To [(115.25, 136.3), (113, 134)]
 |  Curve To [(97.95, 136.75), (80.65, 136.75)]
 |  Curve To [(69, 146.6), (46, 150.85)]
 |  Line To [(2, 150.85)]
 |  Line To [(2, 69)]
 |  Curve To [(0.45, 70.05), (-0.15, 70.05)]
 |  Line To [(-6, 74)]
 |  Curve To [(-21.9, 89.9), (-31.8, 96.45)]
 |  Line To [(-60.1, 125.35)]
 |  Curve To [(-71.7, 133.5), (-88.6, 150.25)]
 |  Curve To [(-99.85, 150.25), (-115, 160.85)]
 |  Curve To [(-123.55, 149.85), (-134.05, 149.85)]
 |  Curve To [(-134.05, 108.45), (-148, 90.5)]
 |  Curve To [(-147.3, 74.3), (-147.3, 37)]
 |  Curve To [(-144.25, 23.65), (-143.3, 1.55)]
 |  Curve To [(-136.4, -9.5), (-133.15, -23.6)]
 |  Curve To [(-120.45, -35.8), (-114, -46)]
 |  Curve To [(-95.4, -67.65), (-67.1, -94.85)]
 |  Line To [(-59.75, -103.05)]
 |  Curve To [(-58.4, -103.55), (-57.2, -104.6)]
 |  Style Change
 |  Curve To [(-56.9, -105.7), (-58, -108)]
 |  End Shape
Tag: DefineSprite [ID=3]
 |  Tag: PlaceObject2 [PLACE][OBJ=1][DEPTH=1]
 |  Tag: ShowFrame
 |  Tag: PlaceObject2 [REPLACE][OBJ@DEPTH=1][OBJ=2]
 |  Tag: ShowFrame
 |  Tag: End
Tag: PlaceObject2 [PLACE][OBJ=3][DEPTH=1]
Tag: DoABC
Tag: SymbolClass [ID(3)="TestingClip1"]
Tag: ShowFrame
Tag: PlaceObject2 [MODIFY][OBJ@DEPTH=1]
Tag: ShowFrame
Tag: RemoveObject2 [OBJ@DEPTH=1]
Tag: DefineShape [ID=4]
Tag: PlaceObject2 [PLACE][OBJ=4][DEPTH=1]
Tag: ShowFrame
Tag: End

At 11/22/09 04:29 AM, Doomsday-One wrote: Didn't Tommy from Team Meat do something like that as well? (link)

He did a flash EXPORTER which runs a javascript plugin in flash that packs images into a texture then exports it with tweening information and stuff (i.e. bitmaps)

I'm doing a flash IMPORTER which takes an SWF and lets you extract vector graphic data from the swf file for rendering (which you can then render as vector or convert to bitmaps then render at runtime).

At 11/22/09 12:50 AM, Nayhan wrote:

At 11/22/09 12:40 AM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote: this is what the inside of a simple SWF looks like

Interesting... how can knowing this help with everyday flash making?

It can't.

It can help with loading SWF files in c++ so I can extract graphics and animations from a SWF instead of using annoying sprite sheets

this is what the inside of a simple SWF looks like

Tag: FileAttributes
Tag: Metadata
Tag: SetBackgroundColor
Tag: DefineSceneAndFrameLabelData
Tag: DefineShape4 [ID=1]
Tag: DefineShape4 [ID=2]
Tag: DefineSprite [ID=3]
 |  Tag: PlaceObject2 [OBJ=1]
 |  Tag: ShowFrame
 |  Tag: PlaceObject2 [OBJ=2]
 |  Tag: ShowFrame
 |  Tag: End
Tag: PlaceObject2 [OBJ=3]
Tag: ShowFrame
Tag: PlaceObject2
Tag: ShowFrame
Tag: RemoveObject2
Tag: DefineShape [ID=4]
Tag: PlaceObject2 [OBJ=4]
Tag: ShowFrame
Tag: End

None of the tags are fully decoded yet, working on it

At 11/19/09 05:43 PM, liaaaam wrote:

At 11/19/09 01:03 PM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote: The future

One thing I'm looking forward to (I'm switching tracts a tad here) is wireless power. A lot of the major electronics companies are currently working on it and it seems to be going well. I think it's the next big technological innovation - a subtle thing that will change the way we do things, or at least improve all of our devices considerably. I don't think it'll be used (or is being targeted at) home appliances, but things like mobile phones, laptops, portable game consoles.. being able to charge them constantly without having to plug them in will be a big thing. It'll be like having an unlimited battery on your iPod :3

I doubt the efficiency of wireless power.

If it's transferred as waves, the waves will dissipate as the device gets farther from the source, killing the efficiency of the power. Like a wireless signal gets weaker as you get farther away, wireless power would do the same and you'd be wasting energy (which is quite valuable right now).

Not saying it can't be made efficient, but I think everything will have its own internal power source (think super long lasting battery) before wireless power actually becomes worth it.

At 11/19/09 05:31 AM, hdxmike wrote: Appaerrently ( i saw on discovery channel) one day there will be wirless internet stations that will give wifi to areas the size of england and it will come out of our tax D: but i dont mind :D

You shouldn't take the Discovery channel seriously, they exaggerate and sensationalize for effect and entertainment (it's why Mythbusters is such a good show. It wouldn't be nearly as entertaining if they didn't escalate every 'myth' to biblical proportions and blow stuff up).

90% of "futurist ideas" you have right now will be phased out by something better before they come to fruition.

You know like in the 70s they were all like "Ya in the future there'll be video phones instead of normal telephones". Guess what, we hvae cellphones and internet, and nobody really cares about videophones any more.

My god
(nsfw) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egcXvqiho 4w

I couldn't decide if it was funny, disgusting or awesome. One of the most WTF videos I've seen in a while

Math is awesome
http://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/glaie l-gamer/insect-fractal

At 11/12/09 04:45 PM, hashbrown wrote: god you guys made me think gg did something badass like say fuck you to ea or something

EA is not as evil as it used to be

Activision, on the other hand...

At 11/11/09 08:00 PM, Deathcon7 wrote: Fitting Into The Equation

As a writer and a programmer, I find there isn't really much I can do with my talents when it comes to interactive media without an artist. That being said, how does a writer fit into the equation of interactive media? When can a writer make a legitimate claim to contributing to a project?

IMO for small scale and flash projects if you want to be a writer or designer then it is REQUIRED that you are also an artist or a programmer.

Programmers can do just fine without an artist. Learn how to use special effects.
Well for certain types of games at least.

Learn AS3.

It's stricter which makes it harder to learn if you're used to as2 but is MUCH MUCH nicer in the long run.

AS2 promotes bad coding practice by allowing it. Stuff like not declaring the type of a variable

var A = 1 //makes A a number
A = textbox.text // read in the number "4" from a text box
A += 1 //increment A by 1
trace(A) //outputs 41, wtf??? cause reading it in from a textbox converted it to a string

So just learn AS3, you'll save yourself a ton of time tracking down "bad code" bugs when the language specifically disallows much of it.

Also it's about 100x faster (not graphics that's not code... keep that in mind)

At 11/9/09 02:30 PM, Deadclever23 wrote: Let's just remember that Death Worm was made in game maker.

and Spelunky

made it 6 days without drinking coffee... crappiest week ever I can't live like this.

*makes coffee*

bring back from the dead the "Can we still be friends?" thread.

That neck was way huger than the recent fad

At 11/5/09 01:57 AM, fluffkomix wrote: i can't make heads or tails of it. i've never heard of any of these functions (RoR, RoL, XoR, Rsh, Not, And, Or, Mod, Lsh)

my guesses
RoR = Rotate Right
01001110 -> 00100111 -> 10010011

RoL = rotate left (reverse of above)
01001110 -> 10011100 -> 00111001

XOR = exclusive or:

0 XOR 0 = 0
0 XOR 1 = 1
1 XOR 0 = 1
1 XOR 1 = 0

Rsh = Right Shift
01001110 -> 00100111 -> 00010011

Lsh = Left Shift
01001110 -> 10011100 -> 00111000

NOT = inverse
0 -> 1
1 -> 0
01001110 -> 10110001

AND = and
1 AND 1 = 1
0 AND 1 = 0
1 AND 0 = 0
0 AND 0 = 0

OR = or
1 OR 1 = 1
1 OR 0 = 1
0 OR 1 = 1
0 OR 0 = 0

MOD = modulus (remainder)
31 MOD 10 = 1 (31/10 = 3 remainder 1)
8 MOD 3 = 2 (8/3 = 2 remainder 2)

For those on a mac:

Applications/Utilities/Grapher.app

one of the coolest hidden gems in the computer if you like math

it can graph like... anything!

Feta Cheese goes good on/in:

Salad
Sandwiches (turkey + lettuce + tomato + hummus + feta + olives in a pita)
Pizza Sometimes (Spinach + Garlic + Feta + Olive)
Spinach Pie (Spanikopita)

It's a really strong cheese so I rarely eat it alone but it goes good on a ton of Mediterranean and greek foods.

At 11/2/09 12:30 PM, TheCriminalDuder wrote: I'm really buzzed from two cups of coffee this mornin'.

I don't understand animating on caffine guys - it's too fast, too rushed, they say the coffee helps and makes ya more creative but I can't be creative when the thought I'm thinking about is a few sentences ahead of me.

On the other hand its Hilarius because it makes animating so intense. Though I like drawing when my hand stays still and find a lot more control z-ing happens on coffee.

Caffeine doesn't make you more creative, it makes you more focused.
So it helps to have a plan ahead of time.

At least, it's been GOD for me getting my work done. You don't code 6000 lines in a week on sweat and tears alone (that was one crazy week back in april that I don't think I'll ever be able to replicate).

Also I think I'm over my withdrawal. I'll wait another week or so before starting up again.

At 11/1/09 07:23 AM, The-Super-Flash-Bros wrote: Oh god, it's awful! I quit a while back, had the same thing. Headaches, no energy, couldn't think straight. It goes away after a week or so, hang in there Glaiel!

Having said that, I've been riding the bull again this weekend. Got to try not to get addicted again...

Tom-

Ya like, i've "quit" quite a few times in the past. I usually try to take a break once the caffeine stops having an effect on me (takes about a month) but I always need a few days of free time to do so.

Unfortunately these last 4 months have just been deadline after deadline so I never had the time to quit.

day 2: still extremely tired, headache not as bad (but we'll see by the evening)

drank 4-5 cups of coffee every day since like july...

there were always deadlines (pax, indiecade, igf deadline all one month apart).

(temporarily) quit cold turkey this weekend

can barely move, headache killing me

hungry but too tired to go get food

agggg

design documents are pointless for designing small scale games and only really have a use when it comes to organizing large teams.

Plus your attitude is a bit questionable

I never saw that screensaver, is there any video of it?

i was a mac user my entire life

I have a sudden urge to dress up with a green robin mask and cape for haloween

Nailing this message onto the town bulletin board marked "Newgrounds General"

1. Your body rots in the ground
2. Your brain rots in the ground

3. WTF happens to your conscious?

Seeing as it's hard to define "life" in the first place I don't even want to try defining "consciousness". I know I have one, you don't know for sure that I have one and I don't know for sure that you have one.

I don't believe any of the religions have it right.
I don't believe any of them will ever have it right.
I don't believe science will ever explain a consciousness.
I believe science can explain nearly everything else.

When I fall asleep it's sorta like my conscious skips ahead in time. It's impossible to imagine what would happen when you fall asleep for good (die). It seems fairly obvious to me that my conscious is attached to my physical brain. So when that goes away what does the conscious do? One possibility is that it detaches itself from the body and finds a new physical object to attach to. A new baby, an alien on a distant planet, a computer, a robot. Sounds a bit like reincarnation. Although it's entirely possible there's a separate realm of existence for consciousnesses. Who knows it's pointless to think about while we're here.

Atheism falls apart when you try to figure out what a conscious is.
Religion falls apart when it tries to explain anything with certainty.

Therefore, I consider myself unaffiliated. I don't know if there's a higher being or not. I don't know how to explain a consciousness. I don't care, I'm enjoying my time here on Earth so why bother thinking about what happens after death?

The flaw in any organized school of thought is that it states its beliefs as fact. You can't prove anything so both extremes (atheist, religious) are WRONG. Well I can't say that for sure, they COULD be right, after all.

But I don't care. The universe is a wonderful place, enjoy it while you're here.

std::string buffer
streamin >> buffer;

will extract one word from the stream and place it into buffer, (words being delimited by whitespace)

std::string buffer
while(!streamin.eof()){
streamin >> buffer;
doStuffWith(buffer);
}