devolution

Author Topic: getting unstuck  (Read 36591 times)

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Offline Midnight_Amratha

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getting unstuck
« on: February 15, 2010, 07:13:21 AM »
guys i've been looking in on the latest post on developers and it sounds as if you need to cut down on your workload.
try to get a voice conference and set up the goals you absolutely HAVE to get done and let the rest go on backburner. Also, you have a vast pool of eager gamers with skills in doing the nitty gritty stuff like making lists and things you need, i suggest you look for them and ask for help, they'll be overthrilled with giving a hand and proud to be able to say they helped out. the most important part in making a game is knowing when to delegate.
 
hope i'm not too pushy.
you're doing a great job that i know i wouldn't be able to as i don't have the skills but if you need something that is just timeconsuming and doesn't require skills i'm willing to do it.
The line between lunacy and genious is very thin.
So far i haven't been able to find it.

Offline sgb

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2010, 02:12:59 PM »
Definitely.  I've seen too many projects crash and burn because the devs got overly ambitious.  There's no rule saying you can't take back features that are proving too hard to code.

There's also no rule saying you can't just release 1.29.5 with small improvements and bugfixes that are stable, and put 1.30 on hold for a few months.  I'm sure everyone here agrees that we'd rather see 1.30 come late rather than come never.

Offline delta224

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2010, 03:55:16 PM »
My main issue is that what I have to do is very tedius and I just don't have the ambition to work on it.

Offline gguy123

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2010, 05:24:00 PM »
Oh... well... that was very blunt. If that's the case, then take a break. Focus on something else. Then come back, and get to it. 
I mean, that's what I do when I'm writing my book. It seems so tedious to throw everything together. But I hear it's even worse with programming, especially games. Just take a week off. Ignore it. Forget it exists. 


Maybe it helps. Maybe it doesn't. Frankly, there's no way to be sure. 

Offline fires_flair

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2010, 01:11:22 AM »
burn out sucks. it really does. the best cure for it I've found is to take a break. think on it if you must but don't dwell on it. if there's some other part of the code that need to be worked on, and you can, do so. maybe just play the game for fun, that might inspire you, or just go read a book, visit some local sights.
I also second the have a meeting. it doesn't have to be vocal or anything, but I don't know IM, or some other group, just agree to go there at the same time and discuss it real time. you could also work out problems you have that way too, if finding the results wouldn't take to terribly wrong. have big 'jam' session (coding, instead of music ;) )

Offline zodiac44

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2010, 02:15:24 PM »
Well, if someone could get me access to the source code, I could spray some WD-40 on my coding skills and see what I can do to help.  I can't promise that I will write or fix so much as a single line of code, as it's been 7+ years since I wrote anything that wasn't a visual basic macro for Excel, and even then I wasn't very good at it.  I am currently unemployed, though, so aside from job hunting I really don't have anything to do with my time.  Having something, anything, to work on would be nice.
Capitalization is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse" and "I had to help my uncle jack off a horse."

Offline delta224

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2010, 04:02:12 PM »
How good are you at c++

Offline freemantle

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #7 on: February 24, 2010, 01:08:10 PM »
you know, the idea of distributing source code might be the ticket to getting more folks on this project, been a while since I did any coding, and I'm willing to bet there are a number of people on these forums that have some C++ experience.  After all, something like this isn't a paid job, and shouldn't feel like one to anyone involved, more of a labor of love.

Offline DocClox

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #8 on: February 24, 2010, 04:12:40 PM »
There's a lot to be said for open sourcing the code and granting read only svn access to anyone who wants it. Still need to add permission to check code in, but people can still use svn to generate patch files if they have a fix or a feature they think is worth having.

Offline zodiac44

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #9 on: February 25, 2010, 12:57:14 AM »
I have no idea how good I am at c++ - it's been forever since I've used it.  I've been batting around the idea of reading Bruce Eckel's online book or seeing if I can locate my Deitel & Deitel textbook and brushing up my skills.
Capitalization is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse" and "I had to help my uncle jack off a horse."

Offline delta224

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #10 on: February 25, 2010, 08:57:27 AM »
Just quickly glance over http://cplusplus.com and you should be fine.  We don't roll any custom templates yet so that should help.

Offline zodiac44

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #11 on: February 25, 2010, 02:23:55 PM »
Do you guys have any suggestions for a decent (free) compiler for Windows?
Capitalization is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse" and "I had to help my uncle jack off a horse."

Offline DocClox

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #12 on: February 25, 2010, 02:37:29 PM »
Do you guys have any suggestions for a decent (free) compiler for Windows?

Well, if you can live with the command line, gcc is a good choice. That's what I use on Linux, but I built the windows builds using VS so that may not be entirely straight forward.

The Ogre project uses Code::Blocks which seems to be entirely competant. It's an IDE rather than a compiler, but it can work on top of VS express or CGG/MigGW

The other one that springs to mind is Eclipse. It's an industrial strength IDE, but it's designed as a java tool, and I'm not sure how much work there is in getting it to handle C++

Offline delta224

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #13 on: February 25, 2010, 04:00:03 PM »
There are two main compilers for windows gcc and msvc. msvc is the compiler that comes with visual studio and you can get the c++ part of visual studio for free of Microsoft's website, look for visual studio express c++ 2008 or 2010.  Also visual studio is one of the best IDEs out there for c++ if only for its debugging . IF you go with gcc get code::blocks, eclipse is just to slow to start.

Offline zodiac44

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Re: getting unstuck
« Reply #14 on: February 26, 2010, 12:52:36 AM »
I'll get the visual studio one and see just how rusty my code skills are.  I'm thinking rusty on the order of a '72 Dodge Charger sitting on blocks in a rednecks front yard, so I might need to get a tetanus booster first  >;o)
Capitalization is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse" and "I had to help my uncle jack off a horse."