At 10/5/12 12:47 PM, 4urentertainment wrote: Sooo yeah, someone should make a good smoke effect in flash then release the source.

I might be taking fluid dynamics next semester, so I'll work on it then when I actually comprehend what those articles are talking about :)

At 10/5/12 12:10 PM, Luis wrote: I feel like its one of those things that youll never really master, both as an animator and a programmer. Its just so unpredictable.

Also, I forgot to say, I'm really curious, what kind of impressive smoke-solutions have you recently come across?

At 10/5/12 04:19 PM, MSGhero wrote: I might be taking fluid dynamics next semester, so I'll work on it then when I actually comprehend what those articles are talking about :)

That sounds really cool! I'm in the process of applying for colleges in the US, what courses/major are you taking, and what university are you in? (Also, what are your thoughts on each?)

At 10/6/12 10:53 AM, 4urentertainment wrote: That sounds really cool! I'm in the process of applying for colleges in the US, what courses/major are you taking, and what university are you in? (Also, what are your thoughts on each?)

I'm a mech engineer major and applying for a comp sci minor (taking Java now). Also taking DiffEq, dynamics, and engineering graphics (AutoCAD and Inventor) at Georgia Tech. On each college? Ivy league unis are overpriced and elitist, GATech is overpriced but really good (70-30 guy girl ratio though x.x), and there's plenty more colleges with pros and cons. Which one(s) are you looking at and for what major?

At 10/6/12 10:53 AM, 4urentertainment wrote: That sounds really cool! I'm in the process of applying for colleges in the US, what courses/major are you taking, and what university are you in? (Also, what are your thoughts on each?)

Oh, god, college apps. I'm going through the application process as well, and because I'm applying to places like MIT I have to write a shitton of essays.

Yuck.

Also, have any of you ever used LaTeX? That plus Maple make my math homework sexier than ever.

At 10/7/12 03:14 PM, Archawn wrote: Oh, god, college apps. I'm going through the application process as well, and because I'm applying to places like MIT I have to write a shitton of essays.

If it makes you feel better, my friend who's here as well used an essay he wrote in 10th grade about how 2 + 2 = fish, citing Michael Phelps and Wikipedia.

At 10/7/12 03:21 PM, MSGhero wrote: If it makes you feel better, my friend who's here as well used an essay he wrote in 10th grade about how 2 + 2 = fish, citing Michael Phelps and Wikipedia.

I would love to read that sometime.

At 10/7/12 03:48 PM, egg82 wrote: I would love to read that sometime.

It's on his facebook for sure, so I'll see if he'll upload them somewhere else, and I'll link to it

BLOG POST cuz I'm tired of doing homework today.

Anyone up for a Kilobyte Game Contest ?!

(Remember those, 't'was fun.)

At 10/7/12 05:30 PM, gorman2001 wrote: Anyone up for a Kilobyte Game Contest ?!

(Remember those, 't'was fun.)

do it as a weekend game jam and I'm in

At 10/7/12 05:46 PM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote:

At 10/7/12 05:30 PM, gorman2001 wrote: Anyone up for a Kilobyte Game Contest ?!

(Remember those, 't'was fun.)

do it as a weekend game jam and I'm in

seconded

At 10/6/12 12:34 PM, MSGhero wrote: I'm a mech engineer major and applying for a comp sci minor (taking Java now). Also taking DiffEq, dynamics, and engineering graphics (AutoCAD and Inventor) at Georgia Tech. On each college? Ivy league unis are overpriced and elitist, GATech is overpriced but really good (70-30 guy girl ratio though x.x), and there's plenty more colleges with pros and cons. Which one(s) are you looking at and for what major?

Mechanical engineering sounds awesome, although I still haven't decided on a major.

I've got this list of colleges I'm thinking of applying to:

-MIT
-Stanford
-Vanderbilt University
-Colgate University
-Johns Hopkins
-Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Everything is crazily expensive, compared to the fact that it costs $200 or so per semester here in Egypt. So I most likely won't be going unless I get some form of financial aid or scholarship.

At 10/7/12 03:14 PM, Archawn wrote: Oh, god, college apps. I'm going through the application process as well, and because I'm applying to places like MIT I have to write a shitton of essays.

Have you started writing those yet? I'm still waiting on finishing my SAT's and TOEFL before doing anything. I have started on my personal statement though, which I keep hearing is SUPER important.

But I like writing anyway. I think I'd end up writing this personal statement whether or not I was applying. It's pretty fascinating to me. It's like, you need to try and describe yourself, who you are and what you do in life, and basically manifest your personality on paper in only 500 words. It's like this essay would be the highlight of my life at this time, one that I could read in 5, 10 or 20 years and it will be like talking to my younger self. Anyway I'll stop rambling now.

At 10/8/12 12:29 PM, 4urentertainment wrote:

At 10/7/12 03:14 PM, Archawn wrote: Oh, god, college apps. I'm going through the application process as well, and because I'm applying to places like MIT I have to write a shitton of essays.

Have you started writing those yet? I'm still waiting on finishing my SAT's and TOEFL before doing anything. I have started on my personal statement though, which I keep hearing is SUPER important.

I just started this past weekend on my essays, I also just took my SAT Subject Tests. I'm trying to apply for Early Action so the next month is going to be super fun.

What's the personal statement for? A specific college or something?

Also if we both get into MIT we should totally be roomies :D

Is anyone else thinking about doing the newgrounds game jam this coming weekend ? I've been sort of trying to find an artist to partner up with, but I have had no real luck. I may be going solo.

http://www.newgrounds.com/collection/nggamejam8

At 10/8/12 02:05 PM, PrettyMuchBryce wrote: http://www.newgrounds.com/collection/nggamejam8

i'm seriously tempted. I've almost got away3D down, so I could do a full 3D game.

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.................. I dunno @.@

At 10/8/12 02:05 PM, PrettyMuchBryce wrote: I've been sort of trying to find an artist to partner up with, but I have had no real luck. I may be going solo.

Story of my programming life. Same, I do have a writer who has musician friends, not sure if they'll join yet.

At 10/8/12 02:10 PM, PSvils wrote: We'll try hittin' this one up! I'm super excited, since I know have NAPE in my toolset fo sho.

Nape so good.

If you didn't know, there's a thread that took me a week to find. I pmed Tom about it, and he said he'll put it in the next news post since there's almost no one in it.

At 10/8/12 12:29 PM, 4urentertainment wrote: Everything is crazily expensive, compared to the fact that it costs $200 or so per semester here in Egypt. So I most likely won't be going unless I get some form of financial aid or scholarship.

What the FUCK, man. $20k/semester here for out-of-state students, like $6k or so for in-state. I got the most selective scholarship given by the institution, and it's still a sizable amount to pay. How does the quality of uni compare to the US, if you have any idea? i.e., is it worth an extra $20k plus travel? That's a nice list btw, I know of a few other good ones depending on your potential major if you want more.

At 10/8/12 01:51 PM, Archawn wrote: What's the personal statement for? A specific college or something?

From what I'm told, all, or most, colleges want this "personal statement" where you just talk about yourself and who you are. You heard about anything like that in the colleges you're applying to? For example here's Johns Hopkins examples of "essays that worked"

Also if we both get into MIT we should totally be roomies :D

Wouldn't that be fucking awesome :D

At 10/8/12 02:22 PM, MSGhero wrote: What the FUCK, man. $20k/semester here for out-of-state students, like $6k or so for in-state. I got the most selective scholarship given by the institution, and it's still a sizable amount to pay. How does the quality of uni compare to the US, if you have any idea? i.e., is it worth an extra $20k plus travel? That's a nice list btw, I know of a few other good ones depending on your potential major if you want more.

Well obviously there's a huge difference in terms of facilities, but the quality of education is actually decent. As far as I know the major differences are that, in the US there might be some award winning professors or even Nobel laureates in the Uni whereas there would be no such thing here, and more importantly there are 0 research opportunities here.

There's also a pretty tiny variety of majors compared to the US here.

But I think the biggest reason why I think it'd be worth the travel and expenses is the environment around you. When everyone around you is really competitive and everyone has his own unique projects and ambitions. Like I'm always inspired by all those stories of people who met in college and changed the world. Like the guys who founded Google meeting in Princeton and facebook guys meeting in Harvard. And also the whole living on my own and having responsibilities, maybe getting some work experience, research opportunities etc..

But yeah, the reason Uni is so cheap here is because it's subsidized by the government, as in many other countries, except in US and UK where college fucking costs more than 3 arms and a leg.

Also, another funny statistic, minimum wage around here is about $50 per month.

At 10/8/12 02:22 PM, MSGhero wrote: What the FUCK, man. $20k/semester here for out-of-state students, like $6k or so for in-state. I got the most selective scholarship given by the institution, and it's still a sizable amount to pay. How does the quality of uni compare to the US, if you have any idea? i.e., is it worth an extra $20k plus travel? That's a nice list btw, I know of a few other good ones depending on your potential major if you want more.

I'm in debt £45,000 for tuition fees and another £8,000 for maintenance fees here in the UK. Here's hoping I don't fail the first year.

Why is university so expensive you guys :(

At 10/8/12 02:54 PM, 4urentertainment wrote: Well obviously there's a huge difference in terms of facilities, but the quality of education is actually decent. As far as I know the major differences are that, in the US there might be some award winning professors or even Nobel laureates in the Uni whereas there would be no such thing here, and more importantly there are 0 research opportunities here.

Ah, that makes sense. Just because a prof is a Nobel laureate doesn't mean he/she's any good at teaching lol. I've had a few award winning teachers who sucked. One took 10 points off everyone's test grade cuz the average was above a 70. The best teacher I've had here, though, was for a dumb humanities class...not a math/science-y one.

There are 0 research opportunities when you actually need one :(

At 10/8/12 02:58 PM, Sam wrote: I'm in debt Ã'£45,000 for tuition fees and another Ã'£8,000 for maintenance fees here in the UK. Here's hoping I don't fail the first year.

Why is university so expensive you guys :(

Maintenance fees? As long as your work regimen is solid, you'll be fine. Until the bank wants their money back.

I bitched about costs in my blog post, which I might make a regular thing. It's mainly for pleasing alumni so they give more money so the uni can please the next year's alumni. A vicious cycle :(

At 10/8/12 03:04 PM, MSGhero wrote: Ah, that makes sense. Just because a prof is a Nobel laureate doesn't mean he/she's any good at teaching lol. I've had a few award winning teachers who sucked. One took 10 points off everyone's test grade cuz the average was above a 70. The best teacher I've had here, though, was for a dumb humanities class...not a math/science-y one.

I have a really great programming teacher :D

She's younger than most of the teachers and went to the same school the class is in, so she's more "in the know"
Plus, she's just really cool to just chill and talk to. A few of us just sat around bullshitting and bashing Twilight with her after class.

At 10/8/12 03:10 PM, MSGhero wrote: Maintenance fees? As long as your work regimen is solid, you'll be fine. Until the bank wants their money back.

I bitched about costs in my blog post, which I might make a regular thing. It's mainly for pleasing alumni so they give more money so the uni can please the next year's alumni. A vicious cycle :(

I don't really have many of those problems. Then again, i'm just going to AIMS, so that's a huge difference. All you guys and your fancy degrees :P

At 10/8/12 03:15 PM, egg82 wrote: I have a really great programming teacher :D

She's younger than most of the teachers and went to the same school the class is in, so she's more "in the know"
Plus, she's just really cool to just chill and talk to. A few of us just sat around bullshitting and bashing Twilight with her after class.

Some of the old farts are pretty cool. There's one programming teacher (I think) who dyed her hair red. There was a guy in her class sleeping outside her room right before her test started, and she quipped, "Well...he's fucked." I don't think we have any teachers young enough to bash Twilight, but most of them do bash our rival school. Someone got partial credit for a problem by writing something mean about them lol.

At 10/8/12 02:54 PM, 4urentertainment wrote: Well obviously there's a huge difference in terms of facilities, but the quality of education is actually decent. As far as I know the major differences are that, in the US there might be some award winning professors or even Nobel laureates in the Uni whereas there would be no such thing here, and more importantly there are 0 research opportunities here.

It's interesting to see that even in the lower-end colleges there are some fairly well-known people. My calc professor at this local university is somewhat of a decorated mathematician from what he's told us about himself.

At 10/9/12 09:36 AM, Archawn wrote:

At 10/8/12 02:54 PM, 4urentertainment wrote: Well obviously there's a huge difference in terms of facilities, but the quality of education is actually decent. As far as I know the major differences are that, in the US there might be some award winning professors or even Nobel laureates in the Uni whereas there would be no such thing here, and more importantly there are 0 research opportunities here.

It's interesting to see that even in the lower-end colleges there are some fairly well-known people. My calc professor at this local university is somewhat of a decorated mathematician from what he's told us about himself.

At my university I have a tutor who worked at lucas arts and pixar, he teaches 2 different drawing units and 2 different 3d animation units. Otherwise the rest are mostly of poor quality in this part of Australia. They mostly just freelanced as their past work...

At 10/9/12 02:23 PM, MrRandomist wrote:

At 10/9/12 09:36 AM, Archawn wrote:

At 10/8/12 02:54 PM, 4urentertainment wrote: Well obviously there's a huge difference in terms of facilities, but the quality of education is actually decent. As far as I know the major differences are that, in the US there might be some award winning professors or even Nobel laureates in the Uni whereas there would be no such thing here, and more importantly there are 0 research opportunities here.

It's interesting to see that even in the lower-end colleges there are some fairly well-known people. My calc professor at this local university is somewhat of a decorated mathematician from what he's told us about himself.

At my university I have a tutor who worked at lucas arts and pixar, he teaches 2 different drawing units and 2 different 3d animation units. Otherwise the rest are mostly of poor quality in this part of Australia. They mostly just freelanced as their past work...

I'd expect that for any field involving art and animation and whatnot, even here in the US. I imagine most 3D animators spend a great deal of time doing freelance work?

I'm probably wrong there though, I don't know much when it comes to what the typical life of an animator looks like.

At 10/9/12 04:09 PM, Archawn wrote:

I'd expect that for any field involving art and animation and whatnot, even here in the US. I imagine most 3D animators spend a great deal of time doing freelance work?

I'm probably wrong there though, I don't know much when it comes to what the typical life of an animator looks like.

oh, all my tutors arent animators, just one. the rest teach design, html, games art, 3d modelling.
The course is for a bachelor degree in games art and design.
But what I meant by that is most don't have that same experience as they would from the US. which really sucks :(
and each unit right now costs 1500$ (x4 per semester or x8 per year, for x3 years)

On the topic of the Game Jam, does anyone have any theme suggestions you want to toss out there? If I decide to run with one, no one will know until Friday so it shouldn't really hurt anything. I have some themes in mind but I'm always open to better ideas.

At 10/10/12 02:51 PM, TomFulp wrote: On the topic of the Game Jam, does anyone have any theme suggestions you want to toss out there? If I decide to run with one, no one will know until Friday so it shouldn't really hurt anything. I have some themes in mind but I'm always open to better ideas.

Maybe something about the consequences of staying up all night. Maybe that is too specific and more of a movie jam theme, but it popped into my head and seemed an interesting concept. It might be able to be tied into a Halloween/horror theme easily.

Also, I am not really a flash reg... so disregard everything.

Maybe the games can have a short time limit, on the order of 60 seconds or something.

Or have color be the core mechanic.

Sorry color-blind people :S

At 10/10/12 02:51 PM, TomFulp wrote: On the topic of the Game Jam, does anyone have any theme suggestions you want to toss out there? If I decide to run with one, no one will know until Friday so it shouldn't really hurt anything. I have some themes in mind but I'm always open to better ideas.

I don't have any on the top of my head, but I think something that can relate to the whole "Halloween Spirit" would be nice. Maybe even something as simple as "Pumpkins".

I think some more seasonal themed jams would be pretty awesome :3