I'm preparing the documents and slides for yesterdays training as well as the homework for next week. I will post the link to these documents later this afternoon. I will also send an email with the same information once its completed.

You guys and gals did great yesterday.

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It's that time again, 2 months to make a game the stakes are high and this time Adam Hoult the Lead Dev and founder has decided to join in on the fun. His stuff is looking nice already.

The theme this time is Elements:

GC 19 Description:  Create a game of your choosing. Three of the following five items must be included in your game and be obvious and prevalent throughout the game play.

• Water (or ice or snow)
• Large Area (e.g. game world is greater than screen size)
• Light (and/or shadows)
• Projectiles
• Spinning

Challenge Duration:  September 30th - December 3rd, 2011

Submission Deadline: Saturday night at midnight on December 3rd

Submission Format:  Provide a link to your uploaded file (zipped, installer) or submit URL for an online game. Post a message in this thread with the following information.

• Your name (your posting is sufficient)
• Indicate names of others if it is a team entry
• Indicate category: beginner or experienced
• Link or URL of entry
• Setup instructions such as a link to any system upgrades required to run your program.

Courtesy: Ensure your files are virus free.  If you use an installer add an 'uninstaller'. Include any libraries required for the program to operate or a link to a system download.

Judging: Steve and Chuck will judge the entries during the week of December 4th - 10th, 2011. Emails with the judging attachments will be sent to each participant.

Judging Format: An Excel file will contain the judge's scores and commentary. The maximum points for each category are listed below.

                    50 pts = Game Programming Skill
                    50 pts = Game Design
                    10 pts = Judge's Bonus

Judging: Results will be posted in a new thread indicating winners. Here are the categories:
Newbie - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (created 2 games or less)
Experienced - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (created 3 games or more, or profession game developer)
"Best in Class" Awards Recognition - It is not necessary to place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd to receive any of these. 

• Best 2D
• Best 3D
• Best AI
• Best PhysicsBest Graphics

In the event the judges are divided as to who receives a "Best in Class" award, the entry with the most number of points will be selected.

_________________________________________________________________________________

So what to do?

I personally was thinking about a game where you have to sneak thru a level and obtain a piece of intel successfully.  Will i have time to do this not sure but it would be challenging.

For a quick one i could do a snowball game. Which i think the game play would be pretty fun as well.

I'll be posting progress here.

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So I noticed the version of Firefox i've been using with Flash Builder 4.5 is increasingly crashing my plugin when in debug mode which is hugely annoying and needless to say makes stepping thru a debug session a not so fun experience.

In case anyone else is interested what i did to fix this is simple:
(Use this at your own discretion im harmless if this blows your computer up :P)

1. In your url bar type in "about:config" without the quotes.
2. Locate the search field at the top of the document and enter: "dom.ipc.plugins.timeoutSecs" without the quotes.
3. Double click on that item and set its value to what ever you'd like to increase the amount of time before it considers a plugin hung.
4 NOTE: if you change that value to -1 it should never time out.

HTH

Doc

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Lately i've been planning a new site as well as working on some game dev stuff. My schedule is not one that allows for very much free time and when i do have down time and i'm not with my fam, i'm thinking about game design.

I've come to a conclusion that i'd like to use coldfusion as my web app server to martial request from the public server's to a website that will do generic lookups on non sensitive stuff.

Also i'd like it to handle be the secure web server for data coming from the secure game server to the master game database.

So, why CF.

Well one its cool :p and 2 i also want to use a flex client for the website/mobile version of the game.

Using CF as the go between layer allows me have a api setup that can be leveraged across multiple clients.

I'd like to know if anyone has used CF in this capacity and how was it for you if you have?

Doc

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Re-Organizing the site and also forwarding to my new domain. The new blog will include latest projects, portfoilio and video tutorials on Flash, Flex, Catalyst and Coldfusion related topics. As well as some reviews and general ranting from me :) 

Doc

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So its been a minute since i've had a blog update. Why? Cause i been busy lmaoo. Doing cool stuff of course. Working on the new and improved Webshots if you never been there improve your life and go check it out right now. http://www.webshots.com      .............. Now that you are back from visiting that awesome site. I been extremely busy. Both here and in SL. 

I will be posting some of my updated projects soon as they are public. Once things calm down i'll be able to drop a new post. But i've been doing alot of work with FLEX 4 i really really love working in flex 4 and catalyst.

Also been doing some lsl script coding with a state modeling technique. It's pretty awesome. Some parts still wrapping my brains around but im enjoying it so far. New work machine and am i loving it. Quad Core Xeon 3.06GHZ , 12GB Ram, Windows 7 64bit and a Quadro FX  580 which does a decent job of speeding up Photoshop and is great for the occasional need for opengl rendering. 

Okay back to my bubble lmaoo. TTY soon

Wes

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Well this weekend,  I expanded my toolset for my virtual world project and got
my first hands on with  SQL Yoga, Valentina DB VDN Pro and FMPro Migrator Platinum.
I'm going to sneak GLX Application Framework in here as well, because i was using it
with SQL Yoga.

So let me say firstly, I am highly impressed with the customer service i received from
both #trevordevore (Trevor DeVore of BlueMango learning systems), and
David Simpson of .com solutions. I've talked with Ruslan of paradigm software's
Valentina before when i first got my hands on Valentina adk for rev back in version 3.5
and he's pretty responsive and tries to help get to the root of your problem.

So I have to say this week I'm really reminded why i love coding in revTalk. I
mean the stuff i was doing this weekend with it would have taken me a long long
time to code with any other language. It's so intuitive and frees you up to
focus on the problem rather than the language syntax. Your probably wondering
what could i possibly be using these tools for with a virtual world. Well? I'm
glad you asked. Primarily for the back end to the virtual world. The master
servers including the login servers, logic and main  applications servers,as
well as the back end tools, reporting, logging is all being done with
revEnterprise and  revTalk as the primary language and SQLYoga the glue to the
Valentina DB.

For me it's more important to build the tools i need and know that
they're serving exactly the purpose i need to achieve my goals with this
project, Instead of cramming my ideas into a platform that isn't really specific
enough, I'm rolling my own platform.

My first hands on with SQL Yoga. Okay let me prefix this by saying that i used
BlueMango's screensteps desktop and its pretty nice experience. So I had high
expectations and it hasn't disappointed one bit. Using GLX App framework and
SQLYoga was refreshing. I could get right in make my sql Objects set properties
on them and custom behaviours and manipulate them like regular rev objects all
the while SQLYoga is whipping up some pretty nice sql queries for me in the
background and all without me having to run any regular SQL code. I can work
with my data like i want not spend hours writing sql queries.

Stuff like:

   ## Create a SQL Record object for 'projects' table

    put sqlrecord_createObject("projects") into theRecordA

    ## Set name property of object
    sqlrecord_set theRecordA, "name", "New Project"

    ## Create record in the database
    sqlrecord_create theRecordA put the
    result into theError

I mean that's what i call lean and straight to the point.

The commands are clean and powerful mix that with Valentina's speed and ease of
use, it's a thing of beauty. Knowing that as your writing your revTalk code the
SQLYoga is churning out the sql and taking the burden off of you truly is
something to be experienced. The first time i went to look at my db and saw
everything there just like i coded, i was blown away.It was truly a Zen
experience for me. So as i continue to learn more and more about what i can do
with it I'm positive that I'll never want to deal with my db's any other way.

That being said onto Valentina. I have to say that unfortunately i spent alot of
my day looking for the proper documentation on there knowledge base. It's there
just nested but once i found it, it was all good. I installed Valentina Office
to test out some things and V4REV adk to get started with it in my rev app.
Installations are vastly improved from a few versions back. It cleanly placed
things and i could find them easily. Once i saw the VServer Office process was
running i started up Valentine Studio Pro  tool which allows you to work with
the db local or remotely in a very nice gui. I created a server connection and
then created my first user and db in seconds literally. It was very intuitive i
didn't even  have to  use the manual. If you've worked with any other db tool
like navicat or phpmyadmin you'll feel at home. Let me tell you the hype is real
this db is blazing fast. I like the fact that you can use regular SQL but the
Valentina SQL is alot more powerful and lets you work with the sql like you'd
think it should. Joins are painless and it considerably shortens the sql you
have to write for the same statement in regular SQL. example:

Regular SQL:

SELECT * FROM T1 JOIN T2 ON T1.ID = T2.T1_ID

Valentina considers a Foreign Key as kind of Link between tables, and allows to
skip specification of JOIN Condition if exists only one link between two tables:

Valentina SQL:

SELECT * FROM T1 JOIN T2

 I think that says a alot so suffice it to say this is the db platform i chose
 and i know i wont be disappointed. It's fast, powerful, and flexible and lets
 me talk to it in SQL, Valentina SQL, or straight in revTalk as if it was a
 native rev db or of course with my new favorite SQL YOGA.

And then there's FMPro Migrator Platinum. Listen, if you where like me wondering
if its worth the upgrade...... YES! It's definitely worth the upgrade. Even if
only for the sweet conversion tools. Like basic to revTalk, php to revTalk and
many more. I have not tapped into alot of the features like i said it's only
been a weekend and most of that was spent trying to wrap up Flex and Blaze
implementation for work but, I was working on a coming soon page for the virtual
world and decided to give the php to revTalk converter a spin and convert a
email.php handler to revTalk. And i was pretty impressed.It spat out the
conversion pretty fast even thought the file was small it only took like .6
seconds. As well as the script conversion wasn't bad. It had to be cleaned up a
little because the php code wasn't that clean but, it was a peek into the
potential. Once I get a handle on how to set the php files up for the conversion
I'm sure it will definitely display the power of this. My next experiment will
be a db to rev application conversion and I'll make another blog about that.

Anyways I'm left feeling really good about the choices for the back end. Even in
the small time i got to work on it this weekend I got ALOT done. Pound for pound
i think i got twice as much done working with these tools then waiting for the
java and python servers to act right. GLX is very nice i really enjoyed working
in the framework its good, clean. and don't get in the way much kinda framework.
I for one appreciate that.

I'll post more as i progress with these tools and I'm really happy to be apart
of the rev community and using some really awesome apps.

Doc~

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Well I'm definently excited about the new year. Just finished a house move...(I hate moving btw) but glad to be closer to work. Also, getting to do a new project on the side more to come on that. Thankful for family, friends and my work family.

This new project is really exciting for a couple of reasons.One it will be utilizing Torque3D and i'm a fan of the work garage games is doing over there and the community. I'm getting familiar with the source code seems to be some familiar stuff from TGEA.

I been in the garagegames community since 2001 wow thats a long time lol. Albiet a quiet member but definently been a fan of the platform.

For this year so far i've been, wrapping up some projects at work and working on some new ones at home. 

I'm also working on a web project that will be utilizing revtalk and on-rev hosting. This will be my foray to see just how well the serverside of runrev can hold up to a decent load of traffic and usage.

Will be posting more about these 2 projects as they progress.

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Well i have to say after several happy months with my hackintosh eee-pc 1000HA running osx 10.5.8. I was looking for a replacement for my dying acer laptop with its built in lap oven. As well as a machine i could do my windows game development on. My needs where basic. Be able to render decent graphics with  directx capability and let me run my work ide's and home project ide's with decent speed.

My other goal which was to get rid of the hideous usb verizon wireless card that needed both usb ports plugged in to actually get good signals. Well after searching around and searching in best buy and microcenter. I stumbled across this beauty from verizon recently launched.

So things that most impressed me on its specs where:

• 2G standard expandable to 3G DDR3 1066Mhz
• 1366 x 768 resolution
  16:9 aspect ratio for full-screen HD content playback
• Nvidia ION graphics<<---- Awesome and did i mention Awesome
• Nvidia Cuda<<-- For fast decoding and offloading workload to the gpu as well as
• Supports the new Flash Player 10.1 features such as hardware acceleration.
• 1080dpi HD not that im all into HD movies but its great to be able to watch them and also
• Bluetooth and Wireless capabilities including the wireless N << can u say fast
• Of course built in verizon 3g for internet wherever you are. CDMA/1X/EV-DO Revision A: 800/1900 MHz; UMTS/HSPA: 850/1900/2100 MHz; GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• 160GB HD not so impressive but u can always replace that.

So my review:
Its really fast.
I can play all my mmo's on it. Including Secondlife, Starwars galaxies, Wow and EQ2 Runs great.
I plan on giving it its full 3GB ram it will help.
I like windows 7 <  cant believe i said that. But its been pretty solid even when i was using it since beta. I still however hate IE which seems to have gotten worse with IE8.
Installations seem a bit slow to startup but once they get going they fly.
Great sound ALTEC speaker along the front.
It pretty light to carry and it has a LED backlit display. Very nice it looks much better than my EEE-PC screen maybe cause the aspect ratio is better, but  it reminds me of a macbook pro screen.
The keyboard is nice has a nice feel to it. I am not a fan of the trackpad thats why i use a wireless mouse.But its decent.
The webcam is good. Much higher quality than i was expecting. I even use it for Facial recognition to login to windows :).
It stays nice and cool. Great battery life about 6 hours.

In short if you are still reading this, you should stop now and go treat yourself and buy one of these they are the best netbook out IMHO.

BTW my hackintosh is for sale:)
EEE-PC great condition it was babied
Atom processor N270
Intel GMA 950
Bluetooth usb included
2GB ram
Airport Extreme 802.11g/n
160GB HD 5400RPM
Webcam
MAC OSX 10.5.8 fully updated with everything working
Sound is flaky though a usb headset is recommended
ILife 08 included as well as some other nice software.
It runs Mac OSX excellently very fast and full quartz graphics. I even had WOW on there.
send me an email if your interested:

Doc~

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Okay so let me prefix this article by saying that this netbook rocks. Nvidia Ion for the win. As well as 3G connection. I also have a rocksolid eee-pc, but this is my new baby and believe me it was hard to unseat my eee-pc from the throne..

So my second day with it i came into a weird situation. I booted and i was greeted by a happy HP sign and umm,... yeah it didnt move. No windows 7 logo no nothing. I tried checking memory making sure it was seated securely as requested at the HP support site. Did the battery out, unplugged holding the power for 10 seconds thing. No go. So i packed it up ,(dissapointed i spent a whole day installing all my dev stuff and getting it all perfect for me.) Took it back to the verizon store and the nice sales lady took it out the box and hit power and guess what it booted right into windows SOB, wth hell right.

So I began  troubleshooting why it wasnt booting for me, I took it back to work, did a  backup up of my data to my internal SD card and rebooted. Stuck at HP logo again. GRrrrr.

Well turns out the issue is that if u have a wireless mouse with the little nanoreciever plugged in it thwarts bootup. Try unplugging any usb devices before you actually get into windows and should fix this problem for you. I have no idea if this is the case for other usb devices but certainly is the case for logitech wireless mice.(so much for leave the usb nano reciever in #fail logitech marketing).

Anyways Rock on HP mini and for goodness sake update the bios HP!@!@!

Doc out~

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So been away for a while and managed to catch the flu this weekend. Hopefully not the swine flu. But, inbetween losing battles to nyquil and tylenol i looked at my blog and realized its been way to long since i posted last and so much has happaned.

Adobe Max what can i say awesome. Rev is launching 4.0 on Nov 11th, I have projects at work launching in november and yes My game world is back under full dev.

With some graphical help from the lovely Ms Lynn and dusting off my 3D chops work is continuing. Im hoping to have the site as well as an alpha up soon. Time is always an issue and although i have vested heavily in a few different engines and platforms i have decided to do my first multiplayer game with DarkBasic Pro engine. Its not the latest but its a good place to tackle some ideas and i'm hoping to target alot of people who may not necassarily be running dual sli GTX 295's. Not for this game at least.

It's more of a test for me to just get one live and stable and fun. Graphics honestly may be somthing akin to a modern day eq1. But, The gameplay is going to be new fun and deep. Playing MMO's since Ultima Online has pretty much solidified what works and what doesnt work. To me there is a mmo begging to have some of the concepts and features im wanting to introduce in this game. As well as sharpen my chops on what works best getting into a code base i know and have written a majority of. It's going to be an indie mmo thats for sure but one im going to be damn proud of. More on this soon.

In other news http://www.franklin3d.com is live its a rev wrapper for the irrlicht engine for revolution. Its in early beta and i'll be picking up my beta copy soon as i can get the stupid demo to compile right. Thats pretty exciting.Okay thats enough for now i crawling back into bed try to beat this flu~!~ Later~

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So a slight diversion from my tech talk to pay homage to my grandmother who passed on Monday  the 27th. She was a matriarch and a true definition of love. Today my family and friends gathered to say goodbye for now to her. Her presence will be sorely missed and the earth will be a lesser place without her. She talk us how to love truly and how important family is. So if you are reading this make sure to give someone you love a big hug and tell them what they mean to you while they are living. It was so great to see all of my family some of whom i havent seen in over 10 years. You can truly tell how our grandma lives in each one of us so she'll never be to far away. Love you grandma Gladys.

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So as i been getting into Rev more and more i have to say by far, the most helpful and useful tool in my toolbox is GLX2. Rev has beefed up there script editor in its 3.0 release but as good as it is, GLX2 is far superior. The most helpful thing for me as a Flex developer when im working in Eclipse and Flex Builder is the ability to jump around my code by using cntrl clicks and bookmarks.

This feature in GLX2 was like christmas. It's called breadcrumbs. When you create functions, it automatically bookmarks them in a sidebar but once you actually use/call/instantiate your function or script inline, its underscored and you can click it to jump straight to the source. Awesome!

Another thing i'm used to as a Eclipse user is auto-intelligence/auto-hinting. What this does is when you start typing the editor drops down a list of keywords it thinks you would be interested in possibly utilizing. So no more searching for that property or parameter. If it's available to your script it shows up. GLX2 also has this its called Clairvoyance. It does just that.(Reads your mind muahahah). You can also edit which words you may not want to see in there at all. There is also no click inspection which is also something im used too. You basically hover over an oobject and see its properties, or inspect it's script.

Now yes this is  a shameless plug for an awesome product but, it's well deserved it has made my transition into rev much smoother and i feel more at home coming from another development environment with these amenities. Thanks Jerry and your team. 

I'm looking forward to utilizing all GLX2 has to offer as i make my first "REV back-end based" Flex application. Flex 4 and REV the possibilities !!

Oh one more thing, There is rumour of a concept editor, i say rumour cause when i went to download it the link didn't work. !! So Jerry if you see this i want in on that alpha Amigo!  More stuff on Rev laterz~

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So it has begun, a new game. Giving thoughts on it today. The theme is "Racing" and most games have some sort of race in it. Race against the clock, race to finish a quest before time runs out. In my mind i keep seeing a space race game of sorts. Laying the foundation for the game and I have 8 weeks. Time to make it happen.

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