My thoughts so far
clankill3r
Join Date: 2007-09-03 Member: 62145Members, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2007-09-03 Member: 62145Members, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow
I have to wait for Sunday to play it but I can't control myself longer. I have to dump my thoughts so far 
How this relates to me
This is the project I have been waiting for!
I always had a passion for creating content. I was a mapper for the specialists and some models and some animations.
For the rest I program really a lot in java and have some experience in javascript, c++ and objective c and the common web languages.
I tried programming a bit for half-life 2 but I got tired in all the digging required. You have to read so much code before you know how something is working.
I work a lot with processing, I know one of the devs have used this as well (Charlie if i'm correct). http://unknownworlds.com/ns2/dynamic-infestation-prototype-source-2/ For the people that don't know. Processing is often called a java dialect. It's a framework for creating visual output. (www.processing.org).
Processing makes things really easy. You can create a new file and with one line of code you have an ellipse for example.
The downside is that processing is not well suited for games. It does support 3d, and performance is getting better. It's just missing the core functionality. Some people made libraries to make games with processing but they never really shine in any aspect.
Processing changed my ideas of how to structure programs. You need like the 'low level' parts where a class has all functionality and is more about speed and being dynamic then user friendlyness. On top of that there is the implementation that supports the basics for the user in a friendly way. If he wan't do something more advanced then he can by accessing the 'low level' class.
Cause of this I had the idea that by the release of source 2 to focus on a framework to simplify certain things in source for rapid prototyping. And there it is Future Perfect! Couldn't have done it better my self.
I still wan't to make a mod with source 2 engine once released but FP seems so perfect for rapid prototyping. Test a lot of things with FP, and if you like it reprogram it in c++.
At the moment it looks like FP has a low floor, high ceiling. And I really hope you guys keep pushing both in the right direction.
I probably hit the ceiling with some ideas I have now. But i'm more interested in the low floor at the moment.
Copyright etc.
I saw some people being afraid of stealing content. To be honest, it can be sad when this happens depending on how and the credit given.
But I really hope there will be no way to seal content so others can't use it. I think people should be encouraged to share and have projects on github so there can be branches as well. I think the quality of FP will shine in doing things fast.
It's so often I would like to make a little change to a game to see how it plays out but the source is not available.
Also the more people can look at others code the more people will learn and the stronger the community will get.
Concerns
Then now my concerns. First one is documentation. NS2 really lagged in this. There was one tutorial on how to make the fire shotgun. And some unfinished ones on the forum. To get people started they really need as little resistance as possible. Once they are familiar with the basics resistance is no problem anymore. This both with lua and FP.
I prefer short examples over tutorials. What I like about short examples is that it's less time consuming to find something back. While with tutorials you sometimes have to read the whole thing again cause you forgot where the little piece of information was. Also tutorials sometimes build to much on top of previous tutorials. And they are less likely to get updated when outdated.
I love this book http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/processing-1 , it really learned me how to program in an attracting way. I think something similar for FP would be perfect. If any of you devs want the book, I will pay for it.
Softimage had Steve Blair for example, a guy that had a blog http://xsisupport.com/.
This was so valuable. He was active on some forums and if someone had a question then he often answered on the forum and putted the result on his blog.
It would be nice if UWE has a blog quite similar. Are a lot of people struggling with a raytrace, make a post.
The Playing Experience
My second concern is the barrier to play. I think 99%+ of all people are not interested in creating. For them FP will be playing what others created. To quote Brian in some way: "playing all different games for like 3 hours and not relishing 3 hours has past".
I hope changing the game is like a quick map switch.
0 Ping / dedicated server
Then the 0 ping advantage, depending on the type of game the 0 ping advantage can be huge. Specially with rail gun kind of weapons. This could really spoil it for players. Specially in small games.
Amount of players
If FP focusses on servers with just a few people then variation in skill becomes really noticeable. Also it makes all kind of games not possible.
Interfaces
I'm graduated in interaction design. It's a bit broad to explain. But we looked for example how people can interact with something.
If there is something like OSC support then this opens so many possibilities. I could use the gyroscope in my phone to control an object in the game for example. (it might be already possible by using a lua osc library but i'm not sure about what restrictions spark has at the moment concerning this topic).
Oculus Rift
please!
Stackoverflow
I think it would be good to encourage people to make use of stackoverflow.
It works so much nicer then the current forum. Comments take less space then answers, order by votes etc.
Also it's a great place for people to look further instead of asking a lot on the forum.
Also if you guys make changes that break something then a new answer could be added and upvoted.
All we need is someone with a 1500 reputation to make the Future-Perfect tag, i'm 500 points short...
How this relates to me
This is the project I have been waiting for!
I always had a passion for creating content. I was a mapper for the specialists and some models and some animations.
For the rest I program really a lot in java and have some experience in javascript, c++ and objective c and the common web languages.
I tried programming a bit for half-life 2 but I got tired in all the digging required. You have to read so much code before you know how something is working.
I work a lot with processing, I know one of the devs have used this as well (Charlie if i'm correct). http://unknownworlds.com/ns2/dynamic-infestation-prototype-source-2/ For the people that don't know. Processing is often called a java dialect. It's a framework for creating visual output. (www.processing.org).
Processing makes things really easy. You can create a new file and with one line of code you have an ellipse for example.
The downside is that processing is not well suited for games. It does support 3d, and performance is getting better. It's just missing the core functionality. Some people made libraries to make games with processing but they never really shine in any aspect.
Processing changed my ideas of how to structure programs. You need like the 'low level' parts where a class has all functionality and is more about speed and being dynamic then user friendlyness. On top of that there is the implementation that supports the basics for the user in a friendly way. If he wan't do something more advanced then he can by accessing the 'low level' class.
Cause of this I had the idea that by the release of source 2 to focus on a framework to simplify certain things in source for rapid prototyping. And there it is Future Perfect! Couldn't have done it better my self.
I still wan't to make a mod with source 2 engine once released but FP seems so perfect for rapid prototyping. Test a lot of things with FP, and if you like it reprogram it in c++.
At the moment it looks like FP has a low floor, high ceiling. And I really hope you guys keep pushing both in the right direction.
I probably hit the ceiling with some ideas I have now. But i'm more interested in the low floor at the moment.
Copyright etc.
I saw some people being afraid of stealing content. To be honest, it can be sad when this happens depending on how and the credit given.
But I really hope there will be no way to seal content so others can't use it. I think people should be encouraged to share and have projects on github so there can be branches as well. I think the quality of FP will shine in doing things fast.
It's so often I would like to make a little change to a game to see how it plays out but the source is not available.
Also the more people can look at others code the more people will learn and the stronger the community will get.
Concerns
Then now my concerns. First one is documentation. NS2 really lagged in this. There was one tutorial on how to make the fire shotgun. And some unfinished ones on the forum. To get people started they really need as little resistance as possible. Once they are familiar with the basics resistance is no problem anymore. This both with lua and FP.
I prefer short examples over tutorials. What I like about short examples is that it's less time consuming to find something back. While with tutorials you sometimes have to read the whole thing again cause you forgot where the little piece of information was. Also tutorials sometimes build to much on top of previous tutorials. And they are less likely to get updated when outdated.
I love this book http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/processing-1 , it really learned me how to program in an attracting way. I think something similar for FP would be perfect. If any of you devs want the book, I will pay for it.
Softimage had Steve Blair for example, a guy that had a blog http://xsisupport.com/.
This was so valuable. He was active on some forums and if someone had a question then he often answered on the forum and putted the result on his blog.
It would be nice if UWE has a blog quite similar. Are a lot of people struggling with a raytrace, make a post.
The Playing Experience
My second concern is the barrier to play. I think 99%+ of all people are not interested in creating. For them FP will be playing what others created. To quote Brian in some way: "playing all different games for like 3 hours and not relishing 3 hours has past".
I hope changing the game is like a quick map switch.
0 Ping / dedicated server
Then the 0 ping advantage, depending on the type of game the 0 ping advantage can be huge. Specially with rail gun kind of weapons. This could really spoil it for players. Specially in small games.
Amount of players
If FP focusses on servers with just a few people then variation in skill becomes really noticeable. Also it makes all kind of games not possible.
Interfaces
I'm graduated in interaction design. It's a bit broad to explain. But we looked for example how people can interact with something.
If there is something like OSC support then this opens so many possibilities. I could use the gyroscope in my phone to control an object in the game for example. (it might be already possible by using a lua osc library but i'm not sure about what restrictions spark has at the moment concerning this topic).
Oculus Rift
please!
Stackoverflow
I think it would be good to encourage people to make use of stackoverflow.
It works so much nicer then the current forum. Comments take less space then answers, order by votes etc.
Also it's a great place for people to look further instead of asking a lot on the forum.
Also if you guys make changes that break something then a new answer could be added and upvoted.
All we need is someone with a 1500 reputation to make the Future-Perfect tag, i'm 500 points short...
Comments
Some good points and while I can't give you any insight into how things may turn out I do find the concept of sealing content a interesting one.
Personally I'm against such features open code and content leads to more references and sources for other modders. Having everyone lock their stuff away isn't going to help the community and given that all content has to be published on the workshop it'll be easy to track the original author or give credit to any stuff that's been 'stolen'. Ultimately more mods is going to mean more players which is only a good thing for all people making content.
I'll also Second the oculus rift support!