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Give up your demo code to help the community grow?
 
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tcaudilllg
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Joined: 20 Jun 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:25 pm    Post subject: Give up your demo code to help the community grow? [quote]

One thing I've noticed about many of the projects on here is that the source code is not included. I think that's really bad for the community because reflecting I feel that I enjoy game modification more than making games. I think the community would grow if people opened up their source codes for others to play around with.
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Mattias Gustavsson
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 8:09 am    Post subject: [quote]

Here's mine, source code for the games and the game engine:
http://pixieuniversity.com/downloads.php

(the code is public domain, so no license restrictions apply. if you need any other kind of license (i think public domain has issuses in some countries), contact me)
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Hajo
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 4:37 pm    Post subject: [quote]

Most of my projects are available on Sourceforge now. So if people are interested, they can study the code. No idea if my code will help anyone though, or just confuse their brains for the rest of their lives :P
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tcaudilllg
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 6:08 am    Post subject: [quote]

Hadn't noticed this project before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SVGjwnQd8k

Veritable Metroid killer right there. Imagine what could be done with source like that.
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Mattias Gustavsson
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 6:27 am    Post subject: [quote]

I think you over-estimate the usefulness of source code :-)
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tcaudilllg
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:19 am    Post subject: [quote]

Nah. With the source you can read the format of the data. Then you can program an editor to work with it. And of course you can tweak the source as well to add new features.

I think you could do with these games something similar to what has been done with ROM hacking tools, albeit far easier.

Speaking of RPGDX classics, I'm noticing that GeoCities' closing basically wiped out half the download links in the projects section. And most of the rest went down due to neglect and general disinterest, I'm guessing due to the economic collapse and the associated stressors.

Engines that demonstrate working games have more value than engines without games, because their potential is easier to perceive.

One singular shortcoming of many of the games here is that they lack moving NPCs. This makes the worlds seem static and lifeless. Of course I remember most of them were made in 48hrs... or a week anyway.

Hajo wrote:
Most of my projects are available on Sourceforge now. So if people are interested, they can study the code. No idea if my code will help anyone though, or just confuse their brains for the rest of their lives :P


Lol it can't be worse than Gamestar. :)
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Mattias Gustavsson
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 7:26 pm    Post subject: [quote]

Here's games I've made for various competitions/challenges:


Source code is available for all of them - the code is even *public domain", so anyone can use it freely. But to be honest, why would they? They only took me 2-7 days to write (of which just a small, small part was writing the code, and the larger part was art and game design). It wouldn't take anyone else much longer to write. Writing the code is the easy bit, making a fun game is what is hard, so I'm not sure what benefit you're expecting from having access to source. And also, if you write it yourself, you're likely to find your way around it much easier.
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tcaudilllg
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:49 pm    Post subject: [quote]

I take the reverse position: writing an enjoyable game is easy enough, however writing the source is hard because of all the debugging that must be done. Of course fleshing out a world is hard for me, as well: I can create the protagonists and the villains easily enough, but the supporting crowd is more difficult to see.
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Tenshi
Everyone's Peachy Lil' Bitch


Joined: 31 May 2002
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 1:29 am    Post subject: [quote]

tcaudilllg wrote:
Hadn't noticed this project before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SVGjwnQd8k

Veritable Metroid killer right there. Imagine what could be done with source like that.

I must admit, some of that was pretty awesome. :)
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DeveloperX
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 4:15 pm    Post subject: [quote]

Mattias Gustavsson wrote:
Writing the code is the easy bit, making a fun game is what is hard


I very much agree with this.
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RampantCoyote
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Joined: 16 May 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:35 pm    Post subject: [quote]

DeveloperX wrote:
Mattias Gustavsson wrote:
Writing the code is the easy bit, making a fun game is what is hard


I very much agree with this.

Ditto. At least for demo code.

Finished, commercial-quality, mature code that has been tested on hundreds (or thousands) of machines is another story. But that's code that has basically taken 10x or 20x longer to develop because it's had to be debugged, refactored, and re-tested so many times.

But for something like demo code --- it would take me about as long to figure out what someone else was doing and how to take advantage of it as it would take for me to write it myself. If not longer.
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tcaudilllg
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 1:27 pm    Post subject: [quote]

I think it depends on the language and the style. BASIC is always easier to read than C, for example. "for (i=0;i<cam_wdt_bs;i++){dt_wd=dt_sr_ht%rt%as_s%fu_ck_w_t);foo()}" is not very legible.

So yeah a lot depends on the character of the coder.
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DeveloperX
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 10:45 pm    Post subject: [quote]

tcaudilllg wrote:
BASIC is always easier to read than C


This is a very false statement.

The ONLY way in which that statement is true is when the C programmer is not taking to care to write proper, readable and maintainable code, and when the BASIC programmer is taking care to write proper, readable and maintainable code.

I have seen some very very unreadable BASIC code (especially in contest demo code) and I have seen C code that is easier to read than the local newspaper.

Now, of course most demo code is rushed to be remotely finished in time, but that does not always mean that it is unreadable.

I, for one, make it a point that every line of code that I write may be read by a person with no prior programming experience nor skill, and that it be understood as to its purpose and with little effort, its design as well.

On the flip side of that, I personally know programmers which just copy/paste old code from other projects and even the web and never bother to change the names of their variables, and also do not pay attention to indentation, white-space, nor organization of the commands, leading to games having to do with lizards battling containing variables named "car2" and "shotgun" none of which are even present in the game.

Furthermore, the "example" that you presented is not even syntactically correct.
There are errors in both the syntax and the logic.
don't down on a language that you clearly do not possess skill with just to make bold statements.

BASIC had its purpose, however it does not have the strengths that other languages possess.
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Mattias Gustavsson
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 6:49 am    Post subject: [quote]

tcaudilllg wrote:
I think it depends on the language and the style. BASIC is always easier to read than C, for example. "for (i=0;i<cam_wdt_bs;i++){dt_wd=dt_sr_ht%rt%as_s%fu_ck_w_t);foo()}" is not very legible.

So yeah a lot depends on the character of the coder.


Here's the BASIC equivalent to your code:
10 FORI=0TOCAM_WDT_BSSTEP1:DT_WD=DT_SR_HTMODRTMODAS_SMODFU_CK_W_T:GOSUB1250:NEXT

And I don't think that's any easier to read than the C++ version...
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BadMrBox
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Joined: 26 Jun 2002
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Location: Dark Forest's of Sweden

PostPosted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 1:39 pm    Post subject: [quote]

Quote:
BASIC had its purpose, however it does not have the strengths that other languages possess.
Freebasic just called to tell me it disagrees ;).
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