/prog/ 2012 challenge

Brothers and sisters,

As the end of the year comes closer, and we reflect on what has happened on /prog/ this last year, we have to admit that we did not accomplish very much. Perhaps in our private lives, yes, but here on /prog/ we have spent the majority of the year trolling, meta-trolling, complaining about it and going nowhere in particular. If we look at our community I'm going to say we have very little to be proud of: /prog/ kinda sucks.

I say we change all that. I say in 2012 we band together and prove that /prog/ is better than it has ever been before just by making it so. That we can come to /prog/ with an expectation of lulz and wisdom. I'm willing to make the effort, who's with me?

ITT post your new years resolutions for /prog/, I'll start:

* If I have nothing substantial to say I will sage it.

>>80

a scripting language could be useful for controlling the AI so that a user could write AI scripts without needing to know how to recompile the source, or maybe even incorporate level scripting using an actual programming language, instead of circuits of triggers.

Sure, just depends on the game.

If it's a beat-em-up, there isn't a whole lot of scripting possibility in the first place, so the ini-file idea I mentioned before could work and be dead-easy for users. Example:


[enemy Jew]
sprite=jew.png
hp=100
speed=5
ai=steal-player-items

That approach might go a long way for games that don't require much customization. If it were a tactical combat game, for example, unskilled users could still have ini-style options like rush-enemies, heal-allies, camp-high-terrain, whereas more skilled users could drop down into whatever scripting language and tweak the AI and give it a custom name for others to re-use later in their own ini-style files.

I'd hope that a modular, customizable game like that would wind up with an ever-growing library of assets from random contributors. So if VIPPER uploads his module with new AI scripts, Anonymous can use them in his module with new art/sfx. Copyright bullshit aside, it could really be a golden age of OC if there were a central collection of these assets (similar to the website for MIT's Scratch software where any user can get at the resources used to make a project - scratch.mit.edu).

Level design could be as simple as guitar-tab-style text files. Here's a simple platformer example that should look something like the start of world 1-1 of SMB1:
[code]

             ?
                           [ ]
 P     ?   #?#?#   [ ]     [ ]
-----------------------------------
[code]
(compare with http://www.videogamemaps.net/maps/nes/supermariobros/World%201,%20Stage%201%20-%20Mephea.png)

A graphical map/level editor would be much better, obviously, and ...probably much easier to make (for a platformer). A beat-em-up level script could be even simpler: scroll this background, at location X spawn Y enemies, etc.

>>82

Oh, for shame.


             ?
                           [ ]
 P     ?   #?#?#   [ ]     [ ]
-----------------------------------

>>82

sorry, but I firmly believe that ini files are shit will always become inadequate for your needs.

>>84

I'm with you on ini file scalability, but it's only an example. A level editor would be much better. The point remains that if you tell users they only need to learn $SCRIPTING_LANGUAGE to do something fun with your game, most of them will pass. The idea is to minimize work for them and maximize potential for OC, much like the imageboards have a low barrier to participation.

>>85

That's true. I keep on thinking about usability for me, and not necessarily for people that have little or no experience with programming. You could take it a step further, and get a GUI catalog data entry program for editing the ini file. I used one of these on a RTS in the past. It was fun and easy, although I was always frustrated by its limitations.

>>86

Heh, besides QBASIC, staredit.exe^[0] was probably what got me into programming long before I started doing any study of the subject. It was nice in that you didn't have to know any syntax, because the app would only allow you to choose statements and then fill in the blanks. I suspect SC2's editor might be similar, but I haven't looked at the game. Customizing the AI was mostly impossible, but damn near everything else you could do.

I haven't really kept up with vidya scripting, so I'm sure there have been all kinds of improvements in usability since then. Any gamers here have a system they enjoy using?


_{[0] The built-in map editor for StarCraft. It had a simple and idiot-proof interface (see http://imageshack.us/f/220/screnshotkf4.png/) but could do powerful things.}

I'd love a collab

>>86
TibEd for RA2 and YR made it almost infinitely easier than doing by hand.

I'll say on the flipside, for the original ra2.ini and ra2md.ini, they commented every damn section, even the stuff with "deprecated" code, so it was simple as shit to throw things at the engine and watch them go. Plus they had the insight to separate abilities, spawner effects, weapons, projectiles, warheads, etc, which could make for really fun things.

Another project for next year: More stories and lore.

I miss stuff like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdj6deraQ6k

And this:

http://www.mediafire.com/?pfhhrbz50pgz2ur

>>90
>not posting the Ren & Stimpy video
newfag detected

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiZcdj2pIxM

>>89

Yeah, I used tibed for c&c tiberian sun. Fun times. My favorite thing was modifying the civilian RV to cause an asteroid cascade when it blew up, and then parking them so that chain reactions would occur and take out entire bases.

>>91

implying I never saw that video, and that I don't love it too

Come on...

>>91
Lisp hater here, I made that video.

>>94
Milkribs?

If interested in contributing to the collaborative game project discussed ITT, please see the thread dedicated to the topic: http://dis.4chan.org/read/prog/1325261542