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Josh

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Blog Comments posted by Josh

  1. Good question. I feel like it's convenient to have your videos, files, and a short explanation all on one page, as sort of a multimedia presentation. However, it should probably be broken up into multiple articles. I think more than three video embeds on a page is too much. The formatting can also be improved a bit, if you don't mind.

  2. Handy if you're making simple editors or programmer art.From a practical POV, of more interest is taking something already mapped and built by an artist or 3rd party store, then applying autmated animation effects, UV scrolling. I'm sure CSG might be handy and no reason not to have more toys.Just my 0.002 euros.

    For real-time effects, I would modify the material texture matrices.

  3. The programming component remains in Leadwerks3D, and in fact will be better supported. But we have learned by now a programming SDK alone can't survive. For every programmer, there are a hundred non-programmers who have just as much money to spend.

     

    Making an easy to use visual tool was never a consideration in the past. I can't be accused of failing to provide that, because I was never attempting to. Until now, I have focused solely on performance and features, and was able to develop some nice technology. With Leadwerks3D, I am making the art pipeline and ease of use top priority, which is why I don't like hearing that people are already planning their own ways to work around the default pipeline.

     

    Your experience with Leadwerks3D will be completely different, because all those little tasks that are left to the end user in Leadwerks Engine now have a supported documented way of accomplishing them. That also has the benefit of lowering my support costs because people can just look up in the docs on how to fix a model, adjust a light, etc.

  4. This is a nice thought but if the tools aren't sufficient then most people won't be able to make their games. Which seems to be the consensus with LE2.

    Leadwerks Engine was never designed to be a visual game design tool. It was conceived as a programming SDK for BlitzMax. It didn't even have an editor when it was first released.

     

    Leadwerks3D is being developed with a completely different approach.

  5. MaxScript is an example of script that is useful in an editor. You can add little tools, exporters, and dialogs. However, it is my hope that when Leadwerks3D comes out people will be focused on making their games rather than reworking the tools.

  6. Josh, you shouldn't take offense to community asking for extendability, you should take it in a positive note... We support you enough that we don't want you to have to do everything... <_< It seems you take this as a slap against you. Its not, at least that's how I take it... Most just see what downfalls there are in LE2 and don't want to see them in LE3.. The editor being one of them...

    So you're saying the community assumes the new editor won't meet their needs, and it's their responsibility to fix it? If that turns out to be the case when it is released, I shouldn't be in business.

     

    I think some people might be able to turn that around on you and say it frightens them that you would think you can give them everything they want, because it's not realistic. Like any other piece of software having the ability to extend it yourself is a very powerful and attractive feature. That's just the reality in today's world.

    I haven't heard anyone name a single thing they want to extend the editor to do, except you mentioned you wanted to create a pathfinding system as an alternative to the built-in one.

  7. Looks great! Is the editor going to resemble something that of Unity or Shiva?

    No, it will look like Leadwerks. <_<

     

    perspective view was definitely the way to go... looks good.

    The thumbnails are rendered with an orthographic perspective. It's at an angle, but there is still no depth perspective.

     

    It would be great if the actual editor was extensible via LUA so community members could extend/enhance the tools

    It's kind of frightening to me that people are already unsatisfied with a tool that isn't even done. What needs to be fixed?

  8. Very cool. Question. I'm not an artist and so I buy a lot of models. From what I've seen they all have their own naming conventions for diffuse/normal/spec. Let's say a specific convention doesn't work with the automatic method you have to guess what it should be. What would the flow at that point be?

    Open the material and drag the texture into the slot it goes in.

     

    The common suffixes I have come across include the following:

    Diffuse: _c, _d, _diffuse, _color, _albedo

    Normal: dot3, _dot3, _n, _normal, _bump, _ddn, _nm

    Specular: _s, _spec, _specular

     

    Can you think of any others?

  9. Can you define multiple project directories? That would help me because I keep my projects in separate directories and their resources in subfolders. That way I can back up just the projects/resources I've modified.

    I'm still working out the details, but yeah, that's the idea. I guess the analogy would be like a Visual Studio project...sort of.

  10. Stuff my PC can do my Mac can't:

    -Burn Blu-Ray discs. (50 gb vs. 3.6 for DVDs). I do use this for periodic Leadwerks.com backups.

    -Games. The situation on Mac is getting better, but PC is far ahead.

    -iMacs use mobile GPUs that are very good (Crysis on full, etc.) but they can't match the latest desktop cards.

    -Hardware upgrades. I'll be adding a solid state drive and an 8-core CPU, when they come out with models and prices I like.

     

    For email, internet, C++ programming, and mobile integration, I enjoy the Apple experience more.

     

    I think I'm moving towards Mac for every day use, and maintaining a clean Windows 8 install with only a few programs for games and large data archiving.

  11. Of course, my article was not meant to declare a hard and fast rule that was accurate 100% of the time. Everything else being equal, a larger team will have a lower per capita efficiency than a smaller one. When developing a complex application with many interwoven systems (like a game) this loss in efficiency can be very significant. This article was written to explain some of the advantages people working in small teams have, so they can better understand their own strengths.

     

    In the past I sometimes found myself engaged in wishful thinking that if only I had more manpower I wouldn't have to figure out some complex task...but more workers doesn't make design challenges go away. You still have to make all the design decisions, describe to your employees exactly what you want them to do and how they should do it, and verify that it was done correctly. Often times it's much easier to just do it yourself than try to assign, monitor, and evaluate someone else's work.

  12. sandan,On the other hand.. A Large company like Activision Publishing just made a profit of $1billion in the first five days after releasing 'Call of Duty, Modern Warfare3'.

    And who enjoys the benefit of that? Is your definition of success to be a shareholder of a company that produces "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3", 4, 5, etc.?

  13. A pep talk is an emotional story that makes you feel good for a couple days. The effect wears off, because nothing was really learned. I explained in pretty scientific terms two significant problems a company faces as they grow. The purpose is to make you aware of advantages you have that you didn't realize. If you are forming teams and collaborating, this will also help guide your decisions on how many people you need, and what you can expect from others.

     

    I'm not sure the definition of a "modern" AAA game even makes sense anymore. AAA games are targeting five year old hardware, so they've already given up on pushing technology forwards. RAGE on the PC looks about the same as RAGE on the iPad. Exactly what makes them AAA? Advertising and having a popular franchise, and not ever doing anything new? Look how many large studios are striking out on the consoles. If it's not "Call of Duty" or another well-established franchise, it's going to struggle. Meanwhile, Minecraft is selling like crazy, and it's not even finished. Casual and mobile make up a bigger and bigger percentage of gamers, so are they really "casual"? No, the days of the giant game studio are at an end. Indie is the new AAA.

  14. Vec3 vs. Vector3 is a 43% reduction in size. App vs. Application is a 73% reduction.

     

    Besides, "Apps" are for everything. Didn't Steve Ballmer tell you? PCs today have new form factors and touchscreens, and Windows 8 will be a powerful operating system capable of running the Apps that consumer want, like "Weather"! :)

     

    It will be CHROMELESS so it won't confuse your pretty little head! CHROMELESS!!! WITHOUT CHROME!!! :)

     

    As you know, teens are very social creatures!!! :o

  15. I see. What is I added an "extra" parameter to be passed back to the callback, like this?:

    class Thing
    {
    Model* model;
    virtual void OnCollision(Entity* entity, Vec3 position, Vec3 normal, float speed);
    };
    
    //Extra paramter gets passed back to callback:
    void CollisionCallback(Entity* entity, Vec3 position, Vec3 normal, float speed, char* extra)
    {
    Thing* thing = (Thing*)extra;
    
    //Call the class function:
    thing->OnCollsiion(entity,position,normal,speed)
    }
    
    Thing* thing = new Thing;
    thing->model = Model::CreateBox();
    thing->model->SetCallback(CALLBACK_COLLISION,CollisionCallback,thing);

    This would do the same thing you are describing, just one global callback function has to be declared, and it will work with all languages.

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