Merging forums into a games forum is a good idea. I wouldn't add programming because those guys don't necessarily just do games.

Also I think we need to advertise the forums more somehow, Flash forum used to be epic and I know a lot of us started out here. That seems to have faded over the years as it's become less active.

At 8/3/13 08:12 AM, Rustygames wrote: Merging forums into a games forum is a good idea. I wouldn't add programming because those guys don't necessarily just do games.

But then doesn't it become kind of fragmented? Will the new Game Design & Development forum just be for Unity, HTML5 and Flash game development? Is haXe included in this? Will the programming forum end up holding slow moving threads about game development in other languages that go unanswered due to lack of "specialist" posters?

all these questions!

I feel like if we call it a "games dev" forum, then all topics relating to games development should be contained there regardless of language or platform. It would hopefully start some cool discussions as well, such as reprogramming Flash games into full fledged games as Omar and Xelu are doing with Concerned Joe.

At 8/3/13 11:25 AM, deckheadtottie wrote:

At 8/3/13 08:12 AM, Rustygames wrote: Merging forums into a games forum is a good idea. I wouldn't add programming because those guys don't necessarily just do games.

I would definitely add the programming forum into the mix. The programming forum is so slow, plus it feels like every other thread is a lost soul asking an ActionScript question.

My "dream" is having the Flash, Programming, Mobile & Game Factory forum all as one.

But in my experience the programming forum has an awful lot of web programmers talking about building websites or other server side solutions. If you're gonna merge it into the flash forum then you need to have some sort of separation.

To be honest the more I think about it the more i think it should just stay as it is. It's not like there is anything stopping you from jumping between forums. If the forums became busier then we wouldn't need to merge them together in order to give the illusion that it's a buzzing community.

At 8/3/13 11:25 AM, deckheadtottie wrote:

At 8/3/13 08:12 AM, Rustygames wrote: Merging forums into a games forum is a good idea. I wouldn't add programming because those guys don't necessarily just do games.

I would definitely add the programming forum into the mix. The programming forum is so slow, plus it feels like every other thread is a lost soul asking an ActionScript question.

I think that's exactly why it should be merged. It also seems that there are regs in the programming forum that don't come to the flash forum and vice versa. I think shoving us all into one forum could lead to some cool discussions.

At 8/3/13 12:24 PM, deckheadtottie wrote: I know nothing about Flash/AS3, but I'm not scared of learning, and I'm sure the Flash guys won't mind the rare "programming" question, either.

Also bear in mind a lot of Flash regs are well versed in other languages, too.

At 8/3/13 12:47 PM, deckheadtottie wrote: Exactly. I didn't want to be so blunt, but if you're a confident programmer no language is really out of your grasp.

I wanna go back to AS2, when life was all simple-like Q.Q

I'm really on the fence about whether or not we should merge the programming forum. On one hand, the activity isn't great and it's usually pretty close to game design, but on the other i'm going to assume that after we merge all these topics together it's going to get a lot more busy and people will want to separate again (plus the title would be a little confusing, and new people may think this forum only does game-related stuff)

Mr. Fulp dressing up as a tank and handing out fliers gets my vote

At 8/3/13 02:03 PM, deckheadtottie wrote: I third this motion.

Wait, who's second? o.o

At 8/4/13 05:06 PM, Innermike wrote: I hate the term 'method'. Just say function jesus

They are actually not the same thing.

At 8/4/13 06:02 PM, PrettyMuchBryce wrote:

At 8/4/13 05:06 PM, Innermike wrote: I hate the term 'method'. Just say function jesus

They are actually not the same thing.

I've never learnt the actual difference. I had one of my tutors say: "A method is a function that's part of a class".

Hmm.

At 8/4/13 05:06 PM, Innermike wrote: I hate the term 'method'. Just say function jesus.

A method refers to either a function or a variable, from what I understand.
Could also be a function or a getter/setter, i'm not quite sure.

Never used a getter or setter in any actual project ever. I know what they are, I know how to use them, and I know I probably never will.

I use getters quite a lot, but rarely setters. If I find myself needing both a getter and setter for a variable, I just make the damn thing public and check the value in a later function that actually uses it.
I'm curious to know how you've gone through all of your programming life without using a single getter. Read-only variables that can be changed privately within the class are sooooo useful. I use them quite a lot to help idiot-proof my code.

I still make around 5% of my variables two letters long, it's an improvement over the 95% from a few years ago but still...

I sometimes make absurdly-long variables, but honestly i'd prefer a long, descriptive name over a short, vague one.

Wait, I think i've heard this line from someone before... >.>

Confessions:
I'm a horrible programmer :(

Holy fuck. How is it so many people in here don't even know what a method is :|

Confession:
I cannot for the life of me figure out these movieclips. When I try to use FrameLabel events, two identical mcs (same class different instances) don't dispatch the same events at the same time. I've been spending a lot of time on this, haven't really done anything productive ._.

Functions are used in AS, methods are used in java.

At 8/4/13 08:57 PM, Rustygames wrote: Holy fuck. How is it so many people in here don't even know what a method is :|

I think the confusion comes from when you ask "can you strictly define the word 'method'?"

Another confession:
I forgot to add the rest of the conditional, so I was basically just null checking instead of value comparing.

fuck

Also I'm terrified of the C languages. Whenever I take the next CS course, it'll be C, so I guess I face my fears then. But I'm probably not taking it this coming semester anyway

At 8/4/13 09:59 PM, MSGhero wrote: Also I'm terrified of the C languages.

C is awesome. You should embrace it. :)

At 8/4/13 07:06 PM, egg82 wrote: I sometimes make absurdly-long variables, but honestly i'd prefer a long, descriptive name over a short, vague one.

Same, though I will sometimes make my variables a short, easy to type name that means nothing. Then I'll use sed/vim to change it to something that doesn't suck.

Confession:
I think C is awesome.
In my mind, C++ is C with stuff added for those who thought C was too hard.
Also in my mind, Java was made for those who still felt C++ wasn't easy enough.
C# was made for those who were still intimidated by Java.
(I haven't ever spend much time mucking about with C++/Java/C#)

I'm running a very unsupported version of Fedora. When I need/want to update something I just do it from source. One day I'll eventually switch to Arch.

Confessions

I can't strictly define a method D:

And a bunch of other OOP terminology goes over my head.

I'm also getting really used to coding in Lua, with variables not having types and only a makeshift OOP model D:

I'm totally for a new 'game development' forum, given the level activity in the other two game dev forums and the need for a way to allow myself to be less ashamed when I talk about other languages and platforms in the lounge. :P However, I don't think it is a good idea to merge in the programming forum too. Firstly, we'd lose a valuable forum for discussing programming outside game development, and secondly, the process is irreversible. If we eventually regret the move, it would be extremely difficult to turn back. Tom may maintain an index of the programming threads that used to be located in the programming forum, but it would be impossible to migrate new threads there by automated means.

Defining a method? Sounds philosophical. :P Hmmm... would this definition be satisfactory?

A subprogram which serves to perform actions related to the properties of an instance or a specific class

Definition testing:
setInterval isn't a method since it controls Flash rather than our classes/instances.
gotoAndStop (if anyone still remembers using this method :P) is a method since it manipulates the appearance of MovieClip instances, changes the current frame, and sets the current state to 'stop' instead of 'playing'.
parseInt... well...

At 8/5/13 10:13 AM, Innermike wrote: I have no idea what asp.net is

It's what you use as a server side language after a severe head trauma. When/If the brain swelling subsides, you switch to a more sensible alternative like Python or PHP*.

* I feel I must apologize to Diki for calling PHP sensible. While not the biggest fan of PHP, compared to ASP, it's pretty damned sexy; so is Jabba the Hutt.

At 8/5/13 09:16 AM, pirateplatypus wrote: C# was made for those who were still intimidated by Java.

Honestly C#'s harder than Java. Much faster, too.

At 8/5/13 10:13 AM, Innermike wrote: I still haven't added key controls to my game because everybody should have a PS3 controller connected to their computer at all times.

Haha. 360 controllers all the way, man.

I have no idea what asp.net is

C# .NET frameowrk built specifically for web development

I one line tiny if statements all over the place then just add a comment to the end of the line to compensate for readability.

I do that, too, but it doesn't make it any less readable to me.

At 8/5/13 10:33 AM, pirateplatypus wrote: It's what you use as a server side language after a severe head trauma. When/If the brain swelling subsides, you switch to a more sensible alternative like Python or PHP*.

It's less buggy and faster for sure, but only runs on windows systems or a Windows wrapper such as wine, which makes it slower than PHP when running on a Linux server.
Still wouldn't use it over something like Python, though.

At 8/5/13 09:16 AM, pirateplatypus wrote: Confession:
I think C is awesome.
In my mind, C++ is C with stuff added for those who thought C was too hard.
Also in my mind, Java was made for those who still felt C++ wasn't easy enough.
C# was made for those who were still intimidated by Java.
(I haven't ever spend much time mucking about with C++/Java/C#)

What the heck... are you talking about...
I think you have things a little backwards there ;)

At 8/1/13 07:41 PM, Rustygames wrote: You play SC2? League?

yes

At 8/5/13 10:13 AM, Innermike wrote: I still haven't added key controls to my game because everybody should have a PS3 controller connected to their computer at all times.

I love that the PS3 uses Bluetooth and not the proprietary crap that the 360 controller uses but I can't stand using a PS3 controller because of how tiny it is; it hurts my hands to hold it. It's like they designed it specifically for 14-year-old girls.

Sony also should have added artificial weight to the thing. It's so light that it feels like a cheap electronic that will break if you look at it the wrong way.

At 8/5/13 10:33 AM, pirateplatypus wrote: * I feel I must apologize to Diki for calling PHP sensible. While not the biggest fan of PHP, compared to ASP, it's pretty damned sexy; so is Jabba the Hutt.

I've never learned ASP.NET so I'll have to take your word for it, but I suppose even a pile of shit smells better than an entire sewage treatment plant. :)

At 8/5/13 10:55 AM, deckheadtottie wrote: @Diki could probably clarify this, but I think in C++ they're called "member functions".

In C++ anything you add to a class is a member, so if you add a function it can be called a member function, yes. Personally, in C++, and most other similar languages, I call functions that are not part of an object a function and functions that are part of an object a method. It has been a convenient distinction in my experience.

At 8/5/13 04:11 PM, Toast wrote:

At 8/1/13 07:41 PM, Rustygames wrote: You play SC2? League?

yes

Didn't realize you were trying to make it as a pro! That's awesome! Shame you're protoss though ;)

At 8/5/13 06:53 PM, Innermike wrote: Both of these points come up all the time, I have pretty big hands, probably bigger than anybody I've met and I don't really see the problem, as long as you're not trying to force your hands to contour to the controller it should be fine

I have a friend with tiny hands, what he himself has described as "carny hands", and even he finds the PS3 controller too small.

Because of the size of my hands (about 7.2" from bottom of palm to tip of middle finger) I have to contort them into an uncomfortable shape to hold the controller, and prevent it from falling forward because of the unbalanced weight, which quickly starts to cause a sharp pain on the top-side of my hands (i.e. the opposite side of my palms). Feels like having tendons being squeezed. It's the only controller I've ever used in my life that does that.

At 8/5/13 06:53 PM, Innermike wrote: The weight of the 360 controller freaking stresses me out, it's good for vibration but aside from that it just makes extended play feel like effort.

The wired controller, which is heavier than the wireless version, weighs only 300 grams. If that requires effort to hold then you need to eat more and start working out because that is very little weight to consider stressful to support; it's less than the weight of a single bottle of beer.

At 8/5/13 06:53 PM, Innermike wrote: From what I remember you can't connect the PS3 controller to a PC

The PS3 controller uses Bluetooth, of course you can. It can connect to literally any device in the world that supports Bluetooth.

Your Bluetooth receiver may have been defective, or your drivers weren't installed correctly. Any Bluetooth-enabled controller should be immediately detected as an input device.

At 8/5/13 07:19 PM, Diki wrote: it's less than the weight of a single bottle of beer.

And that's all that matters.

I'm definitely well-versed in the weight of beer. :)

At 8/5/13 10:03 PM, Diki wrote: I'm definitely well-versed in the weight of beer. :)

ill admit. ive never had an alcoholic substance before.