Complex Robot's site

All Your Base - Art Obsession?

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 02:43:22 +0000

I've noticed a trend over in the Art forums towards people making 'bases,' that is, a naked, bald character in various states of animation. It can then have various clothing items, hair and accessories placed over it for customization.

This is great. It shows people are leaning more towards games where you can customize the appearance of your character down to the last detail.

However, having that customization option seems like something people are doing just because everyone else is doing it. It takes lots of work making art for several different clothing items. This is fine, but I suspect people are focusing too much of their efforts on adding this dress-up game instead of using their time for the core mechanics that make the game.

In a recent post on these forums, an article was linked that talked about how thinking about the game mechanics before the genre was important for a game designer. What I am discussing now is in the same vein as that article.

The majority of the community on BYOND doesn't want to make original games, and instead wants to recreate existing games. This dress-up game philosophy is what has caused our community to be plagued with terrible 'rips' and games that are simply copies or modified versions of existing games.

Please stop making dress-up games and remaking the same game over and over.

Give us originality!

Win A BYOND Membership Game/Raffle

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 08:46:00 +0000

Well, I thought of this idea when contemplating how BYOND could make money off of memberships/subscriptions.

This is less of a gameplay mechanic idea, and more of a general concept.

Essentially, the game itself would allow people to subscribe to it for a small price. (Say $5?) After enough money is raised from subscriptions (or, after there are enough subscribers), the subscribers could then play a game, and the winner would be gifted a BYOND membership. Or alternatively, instead of a game, it could be a simple raffle, but that's not as fun, I think.

Of course, members wouldn't be allowed to participate, unless they had a certain number of days left, I suppose. (That's a useful feature!)

The subscription length would have to be the same as the gifted membership. That way, when the membership runs out, the subscription would already have ran out so that the pool of money from subscriptions never runs dry.
Also, the owner of the hub could rake in a small profit as well.

It would also need a way to automatically gift the winner a BYOND membership without the need for human intervention. (Is there currently a way to do this in DM?)

If something like this was successful, BYOND would make a lot of money from that, wouldn't they?

Does anyone think this is feasible or a good idea?

Why doesn't BYOND use UDP?

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:45:21 +0000

Skip to TL;DR!!!

There's something I've always wondered.
You see, BYOND only uses TCP for their networking capabilities. Me, being in a game college, I've made networked programs using both TCP and UDP as part of the core curriculum.
Now, the upside to TCP is that you ensure all packets (discrete blocks of data sent over a network) are received undamaged (or you will know if they are damaged) and in the same order they were sent.

Now, some may say that TCP is far superior to UDP, and that makes UDP completely useless for game development. All of this, based on the fact that UDP doesn't give you the features of TCP.
Well, I have a surprise for you, TCP is essentially made from UDP. UDP is a "streaming" protocol that essentially just throws data over a network in the general direction it wants to go. This is bad, because you aren't sure you're getting the exact data that was sent, and you're not sure each packet is received in the order it was sent.

In reality, TCP does that exact same thing (as UDP), it just uses an algorithm on each side of the socket (connection between two computers over a network) to ensure that the data is being transmitted properly.
It does several things, some of them advanced, to check the data by using a header in every packet sent.

TCP was created a long time ago and accepted through an RFC as a "standard" for network transfer. It is quite useful for many applications.
The news is: Like any one-size-fits-all algorithm, it is slower than something made specifically for a given program. It is a really slow protocol for real-time applications, partially because it has to transfer a big amount of extra data in the header and also because of the algorithms it does to maintain correct data transfer.

(Some of said algorithms require sending more/bigger packets. One sizable caveat with networked gaming is how much data you actually transfer. If you transfer less data to achieve the same effect, then your program will automatically be faster. There's one small detail to this, though, that there's sort of a minimum size to a packet that will be sent no matter what -- in which case it is better to pack as much information into one packet as possible.)

Due to the slowness of TCP in real-time, most modern, professional, real-time multiplayer networked games use UDP for networking. They create their own protocol for network transfer that works similar to TCP, but suits their specific application. In this way, they can also optimize their protocol and their game's algorithms to make it run a lot faster than trying to accomplish the same thing with TCP.

One of the problems with network programming, is that, sometimes, you don't get a response from the person on the other end of the socket as soon as you need it. There are ways to change your actual game's algorithm to make this not be a big problem. For example, in a client-server model (which is what BYOND uses), clients send all of their input (mouse, keyboard, etc.) to the server, which then interprets that input and updates their player-character in the server. (The server then has to inform all connected clients of what changed, so everyone connected is up-to-date with what is happening.) Say, for example, a client is pressing the arrow-key to move forward. They sent that arrow-key message to the server, which then moves the player-character and tells all the clients that the player is moving. Now, the next moment, the player that was pressing the arrow key lags a bit, and their data takes time to reach the server. Instead of waiting for the server to tell each client what happens next, the client itself can predict that the player is going to continue moving in whatever direction they were moving, and show that on screen. They can keep doing this until informed otherwise, at which point, they update the position to wherever the player actually is. This looks much smoother and faster to someone playing the game than waiting to receive the next packet before updating. In reality, nothing is faster. It's just a trick to make things seem smoother.

Okay, so the point of that huge essay was my original question: Why doesn't BYOND use UDP? There may be some sort of performance gain if they use it, which will make all games on their system run faster. The only downside (a pretty big one) is that they have to build and maintain their own network protocol. That's not impossible, though. It can be done. Games have done it before, and will continue to do it. The smartest developers know that the way to have fast networking is to use UDP.

TL;DR: UDP is a network protocol that runs faster than TCP, but you have to make and maintain your own protocol for it to be viable. However, it's not impossible to use UDP effectively. So, why doesn't BYOND use UDP?

Chrono Cloner

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:47:58 +0000

Welcome to the distant future at the mark of the apocalypse.
You are a genius inventor who specializes in Physics, Mathematics and Engineering, among other things. You are also the last surviving remnant of your race. Everyone else died in a nuclear apocalypse, but you survived because your genius intellect allowed you to protect yourself. However, no one else was that lucky.

Alone, you stand in a wasteland with nowhere to go and nothing to do. Your life flashes before you, and you remember all of your past inventions. One failed invention crosses your mind. Eureka! The earlier nuclear blasts give you the answer to your invention's failure. Not only that, this invention could undo the horrifying apocalypse.
But now you realize it's going to take a long time to complete your invention. You search the globe for materials, tools and sources of power. After a year of digging, designing and construction, your invention is finally complete.

Oh, the beauty of it!
The world's first working time machine.
Though the machine works, it only serves a single, simple function. It can only send you back to exactly after the apocalypse, and it can only be used once. Sadly, your greatest invention can't be shared with the rest of the world.
But, wait! Perhaps it can still be of use to you!
You arm the machine and jump inside.
WOOSH!
It sends you rushing back to the past, where you land alongside your past self. Your past self is shocked and amazed. After seeing what it can do, he wants to go and build the time machine. Off he speeds away to begin his quest.

You think that maybe great minds think alike and you should just wait until a third or perhaps a fourth of yourself comes from the future.
After a couple of hours, you get bored and decide to build something. Off you go to search for materials!

...Is the basic idea leading up to the game concept I thought of recently.
Essentially, the gameplay consists of a 'year' going by, during which you build something and then go back in time a year and repeat. Each time you go back, you've made another copy of yourself that builds again what you built before.
Through several time travel trips, you build a thriving metropolis (perhaps even a world or universe) made up of copies of yourself.
You spend each year either learning a skill or building something. As such, another copy of yourself fills every role in the society. From architect to farmer to policeman.
You can even create advanced surgeons that can change your gender, thus making it possible to get pregnant and have children.
Perhaps even build a cloning machine to clone yourself.
Anything is possible!
If you get really old, you build a machine that rejuvenates you and makes you younger.

The point is, you start from nothing, and using time travel, you repopulate the Earth and rebuild society even though you are the last remaining human on Earth.

Perhaps the final goal of the game is to build a time machine that goes far back enough to prevent the apocalypse.

I'm not sure how exactly the game mechanics would work or what would make it fun, but there you go. MIND VOMIT!

Breakthrough: Sudoku Needs 17 Clues

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:57:59 +0000

Mathematician Claims Breakthrough in Sudoku Puzzle (Scientific American)

Basically, a mathematician used a rarely-used method for proving that 9×9 Sudoku puzzles with less than 17 clues are unsolvable. (That is, they have multiple possible outcomes. A 'clue' is an initially filled-in number on the Sudoku grid.)

I knew Lummox JR had some interest in Sudoku puzzle generation, so I thought perhaps this would interest him. (And others as well, of course.)
Sudoku puzzle generation and difficulty scoring are very complex issues.
Perhaps this discovery could make that problem a bit easier.

Fun with pixel movement

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:43:12 +0000

So, with the advent of native pixel movement, I have been doing fun things.

Here is what I have so far.

This might make its way to being a full game.
I have to come up with what to make of it.

Something I've wanted to make for a while is a sidescroller.

Anyways, tell me what you think, in the comments.
Maybe you have an idea of what kind of game this could develop into.

Hub-Saved Voting

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 04:13:50 +0000

I made a library that uses scores and medals to save the results of a poll.

(Made it for the Simple Development Guild.)
Hopefully Yusuke13, etc. will enjoy it.

See the library here.
See how the voting happens here.

Terulia Forums?

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:54:14 +0000

Whatever happened to the Terulia Forums service?
They were supposed to be known for being one of the fastest running forums you could find. Right now, they seem like one of the slowest.

CSS Rant

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 01:14:11 +0000

So, I noticed a lot of blogs are utilizing CSS that lowers the opacity of items unless the mouse is hovering over them.

This ticks me off, because I never put the mouse over text I'm trying to read.
Why, you ask? Because I'm actually trying to read it, and the mouse would be in the way.

Why do people do this? It's a little annoying.
It feels awkward to have to put the mouse over the stuff I'm trying to read and have to try and make sure it's not blocking my view at the same time.

I would much prefer it if everything was visible at all times.

Another thing is if I want to see everything on the page, I actually have to mouse over it! That's an unneeded hassle that I shouldn't have to deal with.

And don't respond with, "then don't visit those blogs." I actually visit the blogs for the content, so something like this isn't going to make me stop.

</rant>

(Yay! A poll!)

Mines & Flags Submitted

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:04:52 +0000

I finally submitted Mines & Flags after working on it all day yesterday and as much as I could today.

Whoo. It turned out okay.
Some things I wish I could do:

Add music/sound effects.
Prettier graphics.
More options.

Right, I was going to take some screenshots.

Vore for your favorite game here!