I answered your question already in the Coding forum.

Seriously, give up game making.

One foot in the grave =/

I don't think you understand what a pointer is in reference to programming.
Pointer

A) this is c#

There is nothing stopping you from using pointers in C# BTW.  You just need to enable unsafe code in your project.  It will even work on the 360.

What are you guys talking about? What does it mean to manage content? I'm interested in this

If you are using XNA and want to target the 360, you have to work within the constraints of their content pipeline.  The jist of it is since the 360 only runs the .net Compact Framework, it does not have access to the same classes that you take for granted on Windows to load various file formats (images formats, sounds, etc).  To solve this problem (AFAIK, most professional games have similar systems in place to boil data down to a format suitable for the consoles), you place your content in the project's solution and when you build the project it builds the content as well into a generic format usable on both the 360 and Windows.

Managing content is still a pretty big problem. I simplified things a bit by having a set variety of tilesets or sprites you can choose from, instead of just importing any tilesets. It's not very elaborate, but it does work for what I need the editor to do.

Yea, I've been trying to enable the user to import any generic tileset.  My current solution is to have the editor open the content project and update it when a new asset is imported.  I have a feeling this may cause things to get out of sync at some point, but it seems to be okay for the time being.

Hidden content (Click to reveal)

Testing transitioning from one area to another.

That is looking pretty good so far.  I do have a question though.  Are you intending on deploying to the 360?  And if so, how have you been managing the content pipeline with the editor you are working on.  I have a somewhat elaborate solution in place, but I don't exactly like it fully (it is easy to break).  I'm always looking to see how other people manage this particular problem, as I have yet to find a solution I feel is ideal.

I really don't understand how this is supposed to compete with a netbook (or anything really) when it doesn't even support multitasking.  I can understand the the iPhone and Ipod Touch lacking true multitasking, but there is really no excuse for this not to.

I saw this at GDC last year.  Even in the expo with a great connection the games still felt off from the lag.  I read a good article though about how in theory atleast the latency is not the issue, it is the astronomical costs to setup enough servers to serve the general populous if this product would take off.  I wish I had the numbers, but they were huge.

Needless to say, I don't see this as ever being anything more than a niche market.

this topic inspired me to eat some durian. i'd always wanted to and this was the perfect time (aside from the fact they're out of season)...
anyway, i was seriously expecting to cut it open and immediately vomit, but i kind of liked it. i actually really liked it. it tastes like this mystery flavor starburst that i really liked.
everyone who i was with had something they thought it tasted like. someone said roasted onion, one said garlic, one said funk. i think the reactions are pretty funny.
so what do you think it tastes like?

Yea, I went out and bought one too.  I did not like it at all.  I thought the smell was pretty bad, but I got used to it pretty quickly and then it didn't bother me.  However, the taste was just horrendous.  I don't really know how to describe how it tasted to me other than rancid.  It was strange though, because I was expecting to feel sick after eating it (the normal reaction to eating something rancid) but I didn't.  It just tastes really bad with the only side effect of the taste lingered in my mouth for the rest of the night.  Brushing my teeth only seemed to make it worse.

However, some of the durian "juice" ended up on my counter and I was cleaning it up, so I sprayed bleach on it, and that just seemed to super charge the smell.  My whole kitchen smelled like rotten meat for an hour straight, then it disappeared.  All in all, I think it was worth the money for the experience.

Thanks, I'm going to have to check some of those out the next time I go into the city.

there are a few really good asian supermarkets in philly. pretty much same as you described so I won't go into detail unless someone from the area wants some tipz

Gimme dem tipz.

I can't speak for everywhere obviously, but I work for a very large company, and they do offer to pay for your grad school as long as what you are studying has a direct relation to what you are working on.  You can even sort of bend the rules a little as long as you can make a good enough argument that what you want to study in grad school will be beneficial to your job.  The only downside is they will not pay you back until after you get the degree, so you need to pay for the school up front.  From my friends that work at some other companies, it seems like this is somewhat common place in larger companies.

I don't know if theres any truth to it but i've heard a lot of computer science/software engineering jobs are outsourced to India and China. Maybe instead of getting your masters learn Mandarin.

This used to be true, and I guess in some cases is still true, but it isn't as bad as it seems.  The jobs that are outsourced are usually mind numbing code-monkey jobs that no one really wants anyways.

They say that people with Master's degrees get higher salaries, although I hear from another professor that by the time they enter industry, the people who started right out of college are more or less on par from raises.

Where I work, if you are hired without a masters degree you are hired as a level 1.  After 2 years, you become a level 2.  If you are hired with a masters you start as a level 2.  Since it usually takes 2 years to get a masters degree, it seems to me it doesn't really matter in the end.

However, he did point out that a master's degree lessens your competition, and makes you more valuable overall as an employee. He said that goes even double when you get your Ph.D.

That depends on what you want to do.  Getting a post-graduate degree can be a double edged sword.  This depends on your field and what you want to do, but some companies may consider you over-qualified and not want to pay more to hire you when they can get someone without a post-graduate degree much cheaper.  Some other companies may view you as an "academic" and not really adjusted to a real work environment.

Really it comes down to finding out exactly what it is you want to do and finding out if people in that industry find it valuable to have a post-graduate degree.  If so, then I would consider it, if not, I wouldn't waste my money, just go and get a job.

@Johnny Casil: Have you tried telling the guy he's more of a burden to the team than anything? Also what do you do for a living? What degree did you do?

As for your first point: This is required reading in my opinion for anyone working on a team.  There is no point talking to him because he is so unskilled he can't even comprehend it.

As far as your other questions, I am a software engineer with a degree in computer science.  So I have some personal experience in this.

A lot of people in the same lectures as me don't like or enjoy computer science and apparently are doing it for the money just like me. Well apart from the programming robots part and cyber crime there isn't anything I particularly like in the subject area. 

I hate to break it to you, but those other people and yourself will not ever make it to the point where you will make good money.  You will be hated by your co-workers because you won't hold the same passion and because of this be a detriment and burden to any team you are on, and due to that lack of passion will only ever hold the lowest level jobs.  Computer science is not a field where  you get your degree and then can remain complacent.  You have to love this stuff cuz like Velfarre said, if you want to remain relevant, you have to keep learning.  If you do not like Computer Science get out now.  There is a guy at my work that has the same exact attitude as you, he is completely worthless, everyone on the team hates him, and he recently got moved to a different team because he is really just a funding drain.  Don't be that guy.

Out of the entire thread, this is the only advice worth listening to.


and that my friends is how super mario was created

the plot has sadly not evolved much over 10+ years...

But with few exceptions, the games are still fun, which is exactly my point.

Almost everyone in this thread suggested making the story first.  This is a waste of time, if your game is not fun, it doesn't matter how good a story it will have.  Also, the truth is the vast majority of people here are not writers, and do not have the capability to write a good story, let alone one good enough to carry an RPG.  So, you spend months to write a good story (you can't write one in 2 hours, sorry), and chances are it will still turn out to be some cliched garbage, then you slap it into RPG maker and call it a day.  If that your shining beacon of game design, you are severly mistaken.

It is much easier to forgive a bad story if the game has great gameplay to back it up, than excuse bad gameplay with a good story.  If the game isn't fun, I don't care if you wrote the next great classic, I'm not going to sit through it.  I'll excuse a bullshit story if I enjoy playing the game.  That is, after all, what I bought, a game.  If I wanted to read a good story, I would buy a book.

Think back to a lot of the "classic" games, they did not have good stories, but they sure as hell had great gameplay.

don't start with a story.

start with a gameplay mechanic or design that makes your game fun or unique. make it so when someone plays it for more then ten minutes, they don't regret it.

then worry about your story.

Out of the entire thread, this is the only advice worth listening to.

yeah, I live in berks which is red too but I only ever see it at one store in philly.

I grew up in York county, and it was everywhere there, it is the only milk I can drink without feeling like I am going to throw up.  I think I've seen it somewhere in the King of Prussia area, but I don't remember fully where.

Hey Drule,

I don't know if you remember, but I helped you awhile ago with the Astrojone to get it to display correctly on whatever ancient browser I was using at the time.  Well, I am not positive, but it looks like there are some rendering issues on IE7.



As you can see the internal boxes kind of hang outside of the background boxes.  I don't know if that is what you intended or not, but it looks wrong to me.  Just thought I would give you a heads up.

They probably changed the name for the same reason Microsoft changed their "community games" to "indie games".  They are just trying to cash in on the current hype that indie games draw. It is really kind of self serving, but whatever.