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This year's 10-year anniversary games (2003) (Final)

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 05:47:15 +0000

This will be the final one I will do (at least to post on BYOND). Does that mean I'm leaving BYOND? No, it doesn't. It just means this is the last time I make a thread like this on here.

Normally, I do it around October/November. However, I have decided to do it much earlier this year. Without further ado, here are the games that has celebrated or will celebrate 10 years this year:

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Gamecube)
Robot Arena: Design and Destroy
Call of Duty
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 (PS2 Version)
Rise of Nations
SimCity 4
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox and PC Versions)
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Master of Orion III
Galactic Civilizations
Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II (Gameboy Advance)
Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu (Gameboy Advance)

BYOND games are excluded this time since one can find the years pretty easily (at least at one time). Now, here is actually a special surprise for a game that will turn 10 next year here.

* Rolling drums......*
* Stilling rolling drums.....*

Half-Life 2! Excited? If not, there are other great games (and crappy ones) that will turn 10 next year. Feel free to list any game that has not listed. That can include 2004 releases that will turn 10 next year. :D

This will be the final farewell for this kind of thread/post from myself. I first created this kind of post for nearly six years.

On another note of course, I am still hanging out on BYOND and still work on DM projects when I'm available.

Idea for a review rating system! (For budding reviewers everywhere)

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:42:08 +0000

Since the recent controversy of SimCity (2013) over server instabilities and always online crap, I have thought of a nice rating system for reviewing. While I have experimented with different rating systems in the past (though I never actually done a full-fledged review), here is a system I have in mind (as a basic example):

Graphics (0.0-10.0)
Gameplay (0.0-10.0)
Sound/Audio (0.0-10.0)
Technical/Playability (0.0-10.0)

How this will work y'all might ask? Well, the first three (from my example at least) are averaged like regular rating systems to give a base rating (instead of a final rating). After that is calculated, you must then take a percentage of the base rating by the Technical/Playability score (I'm using 10% for each whole unit on the 0.0-10.0 scale). Here is an example of what I'm talking about:

Graphics: 8.5
Gameplay: 9.0
Sound: 8.0
Technical/Playability: 2.0 (Treated as 20% here)

Base Rating: 8.5 (Average of the three basic fields for my above example)
Final Rating: 1.7

This shows that the game has a fun factor, good graphics, and nice sound. However, the game appears to either very buggy (or other instabilities) or it has problems in the case of online only games, constant server downage. Game breaking bugs will definitely hurt the final rating.

Now, I don't really do much true reviewing. However, feel free to experiment with this system and make any necessary improvements. In fact, feel free to even pitch in different ideas to this rating system if you like nice ways to rate games or projects.

This year's 10-year anniversary games (2002) (BYOND games permitted)

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 19:57:25 +0000

This is yet another one of those 10-year anniversary for games posts and second one for BYOND games. This marks the sixth year since I have made such a post and first time I actually posted it in the forums.

Here are the non-BYOND games that are or will be celebrating their 10-year anniversary this year:

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (North American Release - Various Consoles)
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai (Playstation 2 North American/European Release)
Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku (Gameboy Advance)
Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 (North American/European Release)
Neverwinter Nights
Dungeon Siege
Impossible Creatures (North American Release)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Gamecube Japanese Release)
Super Mario Sunshine (Gamecube)
Age of Mythology

For BYOND games, one could simply dig through the release dates and find them. :P

However, I may list them or y'all are free to list them if desired. About these posts, next year or year after might be the last one I do unless anyone of y'all takes over or just simply let it be. Heck, I might do a few more if I decide to do so.

And remember folks, feel free to list any 10 year old game I missed (which can be from any platform).

C++11-styled Threads have been proven to function under BYOND!

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 10:13:02 +0000

I've recently gotten a hold of Visual Studio 2012 Express for Desktop to perform such tests with BYOND. While there might be an issue with it as a development platform for XP users, I have read it can target XP as a platform.

With LordAndrew's assistance with testing, I have managed to confirm a working form of C++11-styled threading without a single error. I'll let y'all test it out if y'all want (should work for XP users): https://dl.dropbox.com/u/24250760/BYOND/Test%20Versions/ DLL%20DM%20Test%20MKII.zip

Test 1 verb enables another thread while the View Test verb shows a value from an object created with a different class (being changed by the function object used by the thread). When you exit Dream Seeker or even Dream Daemon, it will detach the thread before destroying the whole world which leads to no crashes!

Let me know if y'all are having issues with the experiment such as platform related issues. Shouldn't need to install runtime packages (since I made where such a thing is not required). With C++11-styled threading and proper usage of it, one could possibly harness the power of it.

What would be interesting is if another IDE or another compiler can be used to achieve this (as long C++11 is supported). While it may not serve much purpose for some, it definitely serves special purposes for different tasks such as needing to access speech recognition (which itself requires another thread to function properly or it will lead to server freezing).

A temporary fix release for SByIo Library V2

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 04:19:08 +0000

There was a fix that was needed to function in stable v494 or later (due to changes that occurred and even a bug in stable v494). While there is a test version of V3 floating around, I thought I would go ahead and fix up V2 as people still use it (until I get V3 done sometime in the near future).

Standalone SkyDrop Delivery is now available!

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 19:05:14 +0000

That is right. Y'all now can freely download the standalone edition of SkyDrop Delivery! Comes as a nice installer for anyone who chooses to install where ever they want.

Download Link: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/24250760/BYOND/ SkyDropDelivery_Install.exe

I would like to thank Tom and the rest of the staff for providing this feature. Hope y'all enjoy. :D

Putting my BYOND-related projects on hold for now.

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 19:24:14 +0000

I'm formally announcing that I will be putting my project production on any BYOND related project on hold for now. Don't worry though, I will still be here to chat or even make posts. What I'm planning to do is try to strive for developing standalone projects outside of BYOND (either C++, C#, Java, or even anything else). Heck, I might even get back to messing with HTML5.

Right now, I do not have any current plans for such projects until I finish up on a planning stage. As stated earlier, I will not be leaving BYOND. Just putting my currently being developed projects on hold for now. I'll let y'all know if I start developing BYOND projects again. :D

Qt Thread and Widget Usage in DM proven possible!

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:40:14 +0000

It appears my lack of experience (at least when I first attempted it) at getting those features to work under DM was the reason for not working. While I already know some who use Qt with DM, I have finally figured out a way to utilize both threads and widgets under DM conditions.

This method involves either utilizing a static QApplication object or a dynamically created one (used the former for the experiment) and use the two args provided within the function you use inside BYOND. Normally, it involves taking those two args from the int main() function. However, it appears doing it the way I did it worked like a charm regardless of no int main().

Now for threading, make sure to use static QThread objects or a dynamically created one. Do not set up a local variable version or it will cause Dream Seeker (or Dream Daemon) to crash. Once that is done, you should know how to do in terms of threading if you have knowledge of Qt threading. The good news about Qt threading is that upon exiting Dream Seeker (host/server only) or Dream Daemon even for event loops, no crash will occur. This used to not be the case with MSVC++ CRT or Win32 Threading until a few versions after DLL support was included. This is in reference to infinitely looped threads (for the most part), which now causes crashing upon exit.

For widgets, creating any widget will not freeze Dream Seeker (meaning so far from testing, no threading is necessary)! Make sure to setup a static QWidget or dynamically create it. Do not forget to establish a working QApplication at any point in your DLL or it will cause Dream Seeker/Dream Daemon to exit (with no warning). This means one who can utilize proper communication between DM and Qt will be able to achieve great results due to this.

Of course DLL (or SO actually) is still server-side, but thought I would share some working information. If anyone is interested, I will publicly post the experiment source later (both in C++ form created through Qt Creator and DM). Hope y'all who already know Qt (probably know more than myself) will enjoy this bit of information.

Kerbal Space Program

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 23:24:33 +0000

I recently come across this interesting space game (a bit like Orbiter in some ways) on Megagames and went into the main website just to verify it. Currently allows you to build rockets and actually control them (though it depends on how a rocket is built). With a powerful enough rocket, you could go to the Moon (Mun in the game). :P

Here's the link (can also download a demo of it): http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/

Did read there will be actual gameplay elements eventually (such as building Space Stations, going to other planets, etc.). Of course it may eventually cost money (unlike Orbiter, which is free from what I can tell). Nonetheless, still fun to play around with.

My Last Blog Post: I am in fact a Dragon Born!

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:56:56 +0000

Since today is the start of the Chinese New Year, I thought I would make mention that I (along with others on here) was born on the year of the Dragon. Reason for that because I was born on June 17th, 1988 (which at the time the Year of the Dragon was already going on). Feel free to comment dragon or not. :P