PopLava's site

Done holding breath....

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:07:00 +0000

Off to bed...

WinClickPro (Update)

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:54:18 +0000

So, I've been busy. Sort of the butterfly effect. A certain person tries to undermine my efforts as usual and from it, comes something great. You have to love when that happens.

Since my last post about WinClickPro, I ended up getting sucked into the world of AutoIt. I've been working with it at work for months but I've never had a chance to actually take a moment to look into what I was actually using. My little vacation actually provided me with a chance to properly learn AutoIt and I'm pretty thrilled with the results over the last few days.

I had quickly dismissed AutoIt as being only a little similar to WinClickPro but I had not done so with any confidence. I started looking into the differences between WinClickPro and AutoIt by reviewing the AutoIt site and I came across some things I wasn't expecting. Here they are in approximate order of discovery.

#1. Ability to create UI's. WTF!? I had no idea. This really caught my attention.

#2. Free. Free. Free. Totally bug-eyed free. You could download AutoIt and turn around and sell it to your mother and it would be totally legit. Wow.

#3. I had always wanted to make the "Actions" in WinClickPro customizable and I begrudgingly settled on the fact that people could launch their open executables within the chain. At this point, I knew that AutoIt could compile into an .exe and that it could automate installations like nobody's business but I wasn't sure what else it could do. My big question; "Could it do everything that WinClickPro offers?". I quickly made a list of all the actions that WinClickPro could do and then I stepped through comparing each "Action" to the AutoIt Reference guide. Sure enough, almost everything seemed covered.

Alright.... it's free, it seems to be able to do most of the actions, it would be a customizable solution, AND I would learn about something I need for work all at the same time. Hrmmm... this seems worthy of some more investigation.

I started mulling over the design changes that I would need to make. I knew I could compile scripts on the fly from work so I was thinking I could do the same thing with WinClickPro making the scripts even more accessible. People could actually drop their uncompiled scripts into a folder and they would automatically be picked up by WinClickPro without recompiling.. YES!!! That would be awesome...

and so... since the 28th, I totally revamped WinClickPro and replaced all the internal C# Actions with AutoIt scripts. I created 16 individual scripts, totalling over 1000 lines of code, filed two AutoIt documentation bugs, posted 20 some-odd posts, and... I've already gotten into it with a couple overzealous AutoIt people. :) Not bad for a few vacation days eh!? ;)

My goal was to replace every single action before going back to work and I did it. Not only that but I was able to add a ton of new functionality with AutoIt. Nearly every action ended up getting 3-5 new capabilities. I think most everything can be done in C# but it's nowhere near as simple to figure out as it is with AutoIt. The AutoIt help files, forum, and broad user base really helped.

I've got one last major feature I want to add that is really the cherry on top. Once that's done, I'm going to push it back out there.

While reviewing all that AutoIt documentation, I've also come up with a healthy chunk of new actions that I want to add but I'm going to save those for later since my new design can support adding new actions via drag and drop. :)

Anyway, a long story but a most victorious one. I'm so excited for the new potential these changes will make.

Felt like jotting them down since I'm coded out, gamed out, stargated out (sg1 season 3), and going nuts waiting for the new BYOND site changes...

Perhaps my last post and your last chance to + or - me.

oh... lol... so, is WinClickPro the same as AutoIt?

WinClickPro is designed specifically for knowledge workers as a cutting edge power user tool. It's intuitive and powerful GUI enable users to automate everyday tasks with ease. The tool allows users to fully customize the experience while also enhancing the functionality without any additional cost.

What are you waiting for? Order your copy today! WinClickPro will help you stay on the cutting edge.

Only while supplies last. ;)

and I guess I still need to answer the question. Yes, it's kinda like AutoIt because... well, now it is in fact, AutoIt... among other things.

WinClickPro

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 01:58:32 +0000

WinClickPro is a power user tool I've been working on for a while. It started out as an experiment in interfaces and usability design. It eventually turned into a very useful power users tool. It's designed for knowledge workers who constantly deal with data.

It's hard to describe without demoing it but its kinda like having taskbar shortcuts on crack.

Instead of having a mess of icons and menus, you can overlay the buttons right on your desktop and bring them up with a single keyboard shortcut. When your done with it, it automatically disappears for you until you need it again.

You also have the ability to chain or macro any number of actions making for a pseudo plug-n-play programmers interface.

Some of the actions include, start application, normalize text, copy/paste to/from locations, copy/paste to/from clipboard, open task manager, show desktop, Close Application, Move files/folders, Send Keys, and more.

All of those actions can be combined into chains so as an example...

With a single click of a button, you can copy a files content to your clipboard from a file on the network, normalize it (remove formatting), and have it pasted into your active application.

Again, that's done with just a single click but you can customize any number of tiles to do anything you want. Since it launches any application in this chain, you can create you own application and add them to the chain.

I'm looking for feedback and looking for someone I can trust a little with a PayPal account to help me test the transaction/unlock process.

If you want to check it out, you can install it for free from here. It will have limited functionality until you purchase it. Although, there is enough functionality that you could use it regularly without any hassles.

WinClickPro

If you want to help me test the transaction system, let me know and we will coordinate and have you purchase through paypal (4.99), I'll send you the unlock key, you'll unlock and confirm unlimited usage, and then I'll reimburse you. For helping me, you essentially get WinClickPro for free minus the effort. It's not that big of a deal but that should be enough to persuade someone into helping me test it out.

Process is similar to the Resource Center transaction system.

Status Update

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 08:11:05 +0000

Revamped the Resource Center and made it more consistent, removed a ton of bloat (features), and I added a new auto response feature. This new feature is really cool but you can't see it unless you ask the right questions. A little silly but that's how it works.

Anyway, the main reason I'm posting the update is because, I want to know if there is anything I can do to help BYOND and myself outside of developing games.

I'm pretty good at making interesting interfaces, solutions, and applications. I also have a knack for usability along with understanding how to communicate and provide for novice users.

These are some of the projects I personally thought would help BYOND. There a lot to take on but with the right kind of support, encouragement, and reward, a person could go the distance.

1. BYOND Game Maker
- Provides an intro into game making and provides a source of excitement and revenue for BYOND developers and artists.

2. Training Center
- Provide a clear learning path with challenges, badges, tests, and etc.

3. Resource Center
- A place for quality support, resources, and revenue for developers and artists.

Does BYOND have a rewards program or something else that would allow me to earn for my supporting efforts.

I'm open to suggestions on how I can justify continued efforts in and around this space.

On a side note, I will be scrubbing the Resource Center and removing sub-par entries over the next couple of days.

Is it possible to send a byte[] stream to remote listener?

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 02:43:18 +0000

I was hoping to setup a listener in C# using something like this...

TcpListener tcpServer = new TcpListener(IPAddress.Parse("192.168.1.15"), 5442);

so that a BYOND game could communicate with external applications.

Weekly Report - 09/05/2011 - 09/09/2011

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:40:46 +0000

Last Week:

Collaboration Projects:
- Started work on a new design document for a persistent RTS. I don't think this one hit the mark in terms of adding an entry level project. I need to go back to the drawing board for this. An idea just hit me though which will be fun. More to come.

- There are two more folks who are interested in joining so I'l be working with them over the weekend and early next week to see if we can get them going on something.

- Reset permissions to documentation across the board until I work some stuff out.

- I got promoted into a leadership role at work and the last couple of weeks have been crazy busy. In short, more time there equals less time "here".

SnipeFest:
- Migrated the prototype shooter into the game, created a prototype map, added randomly moving AI units which move throughout the building. Added basic hit detection and bullet marks.

HexGame:
- Continued writing out User Stories (Tasks).

Resource Center:
- Reading up on some stuff and seeing how well it applies to old ideas.

Stats: 9/5/2011 - 9/9/2011
Connect: Resource Center

- tsfreaks

Weekly Report - 08/29/2011 - 09/02/2011

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 03:26:28 +0000

Last Week:

Poplava Collaboration Projects:
- Hashing out an improved Task List for all projects
- Doing some reading and brainstorming around branding

SnipeFest:
- Albro1 [Developer]: Knocked out a couple tasks and earned a few bucks.
- tsfreaks [Project Manager]: Finished a couple of tasks and hashed out a swapmap loading demo for the project which ended up being posted in the Resource Center catalog.

HexGame:
- tsfreaks [Project Manager]: Alpha testing with human players and fixing some bugs. Also started to create the 1 Pager and Task List docs.

Resource Center:
- Added a rank page which displays all ranking members.
- Made ranks more visible by adding them to the players names in chat.
- Reset XP for all non-contributors. XP/Rank will now mean something going forward. The higher your rank, the more you have contributed and the more you are trusted in terms of collaboration projects .

This Week:

Poplava Collaboration Projects:
- Improve our strategy for recruiting talented people.
- Improve the designer templates as well as the work flow for submitting new designs.
- Revamp a number of documents to be shorter and more readable.
- Recruit more designers
- Get another entry level project going

SnipeFest:
- Continue recruiting
- Revamp the tasks into user stories and try to make them more specific.
- Add the V2 & v3 tasks

HexGame:
- Finish the 1 Pager
- Finish the task list
- Finish the prototype (Pretty much done)

Resource Center:
- Start working on how the collaboration projects will be managed for payouts.
- Spend some time thinking about how ranks will effect the price of assets. I intend to let people have free access to my assets depending on their rank. I think it will be a drop down choice when editing or creating an asset.

Connect: Resource Center

Weekly Update: 08/22/2011 - 08/26/2011

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 19:01:01 +0000

Resource Center V4.2.24

STATUS REPORT

Total Unique Users: 2222
Total New Users Since Last Update: 67
Total User Visits Since Last Update: 266

Total Bonuses Given: 98690
Total Bonuses Given Since Last Update: 3025

Total Asset Submissions: 195
Total Approved Asset Submissions: 106
Total Asset Submissions Since Last Update: 1

Total User Earnings: $383
Total User Earnings Since Last Update: $10

Total Withdraw Amount: $187
Total Withdraw Amount Since Last Update: $0

Total User Silver: 300415

Rankings:
Recruit: 763 - (Active Payout Earnings: 4345)
Private: 195 - (Active Payout Earnings: 8217)
Private First Class: 1 - (Active Payout Earnings: 537)
Corporal: 2 - (Active Payout Earnings: 2067)
Sergeant First Class: 1 - (Active Payout Earnings: 2265)
Sergeant Major: 1 - (Active Payout Earnings: 935)
Command Sergeant Major: 1 - (Active Payout Earnings: 21438)

Total Contributors: 70

Last Week:

Poplava Development Team:

SnipeFest
- The project has officially begun.
- Albro1 has joined the project as a developer and is taking on some of the developer 1 tasks. He's already tackled a couple of them.
- We started yesterday and we've got the splash screen, lobby+chat, money system, and initial game screen done.
- Here's a screenshot from the prototype for the scope. I hacked together some place holder art to demonstrate some fun scope behavior that I was playing around with.

- The Project Manager for SnipeFest continues his efforts to recruit talented people and is now providing cash for completed tasks. At present, $204.00 is up for grabs and gets paid out per task. As tasks are uncovered, those get added to the list and paid out as well. Getting paid in Resource Center Silver or BYOND Memberships are also options.
- If your interested in joining the Poplava Development Team, please go here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/ 1V_bMgbbpVEcTpVYfmxtMGlFyBo_FvmnelY99XnblCxk/edit?hl=en_US
- We can be reached via the Resource Centers messaging system or by email which is graydwarf@gmail.com.

Poplava Resource Center:

- A bunch of minor bug fixes.
- Removed BuyXP in preparation for some major revisions to the rank system.

This Week:

Poplava Development Team:

- We are still looking for more people who are interested in working on projects for profit. Besides the obvious need for developers, we are especially interested in game designers who have what it takes to hash out ideas and crank out money making ideas that can be completed within a couple of months. Its becoming more clear to me that designers will need to have thick skins and be open to many designs vs the one they are bringing to the table. We're not looking for dream games. We're looking for easy to make money makers. Casual games are a primary area of focus while typical RPG's are avoided for obvious reasons. I'll put some more thought into how we can hash out more designs in less time.

- I'm also realizing that people don't seem to be taking well to the concept or perhaps the amount of reading. I'm starting to wonder if a change in my marketing strategy is needed. I could do fewer words, more pictures, more sales pitches, more fluff vs dry facts, and etc. Anyway, I'll put some thought and effort behind this as we go forward.

Resource Center:

- Continue making the changes for the Collaboration Projects.

Connect: Resource Center

Weekly Update: 08/15/2011 - 08/19/2011

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 20:05:34 +0000

Resource Center V4.2.23

STATUS REPORT

Total Unique Users: 2186
Total New Users Since Last Update: 61
Total User Visits Since Last Update: 254

Total Bonuses Given: 95665
Total Bonuses Given Since Last Update: 3050

Total Asset Submissions: 194
Total Approved Asset Submissions: 105
Total Asset Submissions Since Last Update: 1

Total User Earnings: $373
Total User Earnings Since Last Update: $2

Total Withdraw Amount: $187
Total Withdraw Amount Since Last Update: $11

Total User Silver: 241833

Rankings:
Command Sergeant Major: 1 - (Active Payout Earnings: 21112)
Sergeant Major: 1 - (Active Payout Earnings: 935)
Sergeant First Class: 1 - (Active Payout Earnings: 2105)
Corporal: 1 - (Active Payout Earnings: 331)
Private First Class: 2 - (Active Payout Earnings: 2187)
Private: 215 - (Active Payout Earnings: 8157)
Recruit: 885 - (Active Payout Earnings: 4346.3)

Total Contributors: 69

Last Week:

Poplava Collaboration Project:

- Posted the following ad in the BYOND classified section. As soon as I post this, I'll be working on answering all the questions and responding to feedback. After-which, I will dive into organizing the first project and see how far we can take this.

Project Name:
Poplava Development Team

Description:
Poplava is looking for a team of developers to work on many games.

Project Goal:
The goal is to develop an onslaught of games which are specifically designed to generate revenue.

Skills Needed:
Core Developers:
- Proven game developers or anyone that has been trying for years and has a healthy backlog of unfinished games.

Interface Designers:
- Can demonstrate previous works with spiffy interfaces.

Game Designers:
- Anyone with a good idea.
- If you submit an accepted game design or prototype, you will lock in a percentage of any earnings. The more detailed the design document, the greater you investment will be.
- If you submit a simple one pager and it gets accepted and built, you would get an appropriate cut.

Artists:
- Give us a try. Our projects will have monthly releases so people can bounce around as needed.

Project Managers:
- If you think you have the energy to manage people, projects, tasks, and code over the course of a month or so, we can give you a try. Having previous development experience is an absolute must and you will undergo a more thorough review process. The first thing a project manager will most likely do is find a project and start writing a ton of documentation for several weeks.

Other:
- If you have other skills, let us know what those are and we'll see if we can find some projects for you to work on.

Compensation:
- When any Poplava game earns the entire development team earns based on their rank. Rank is determined by your contributions. It's a really interesting system that provides a great deal of flexibility and encourages team work. The Resource Center already handles the distribution of earnings and will be used for this project.
- Poplava is a non-profit organization.
- The owner of Poplava (tsfreaks) is treated just like any other contributor and must work for his share.
- The Resource Center has been online since 2010 and has proven to be a trustworthy resource for users and contributors alike. Hopefully, that little bit of reputation can help ease some concerns with trust which can be one of the toughest barriers to get past.

Team Members (Optional):
- All Resource Center contributors.
- Going forward, I would hope that we can be respectfully known as "The Poplava Development Team".

Resources:
- All contributor resources which are volunteered will be available to all Poplava projects. As an example, all tsfreaks resources will be made freely available to all active projects.

Previous Work (Optional):
The following projects were written by tsfreaks. Some of which have yet to be released and there are many more years worth of examples and prototypes I will be throwing into the mix. The hexagon based strategy game that most of you have seen is slated as one of the possible projects.
- Resource Center
- HEXWAR
- MRTS
- Cathedral
- Coloropoly
- HuckDunt
- Tower Defense: Clone Wars
- Dungeons of Dueragnome

Getting Involved:
- As a contributor, you have the freedom to work on a project, skip it, or even just tweak it a little. As we get started, there will be some ramp up time as projects get put together and design docs get created. My hope is that a few of you are more interested in succeeding at something vs continuing to toil on the perfectly impossible game.

tsfreaks is spear heading the first project with Snipe Fest which is ready to start. This project needs two devs and optionally an artist to get us through the V1 features.
- One dev will be focused on primarily the sniping functionality.
- Second dev will be focused on interface items such as chat, lobby, and in-game store framework.
- If we get an artist, they will have avatars and a map to work on.
- PM (tsfreaks) will organize efforts, field spec questions, update documentation, and crank away on the V2 spec. He will also provide the starting interface and project.

Here you can see the level of organization and forethought that will go into our projects.

- Each of those documents is loaded with content. In another folder on the document share, there is more documentation about how the whole system works including information on workflow, compensation, and etc.

- As a general practice, all projects will be designed to release once a month. We are hoping that contributors will be able to maintain solid energy levels for monthly releases. By working together and sharing in the rewards, I think we will be able to achieve a great deal.

More information:
If your interested in learning more, please go here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/ 1V_bMgbbpVEcTpVYfmxtMGlFyBo_FvmnelY99XnblCxk/edit?hl=en_US

We can be reached via the Resource Centers messaging system or by email which is support@poplava.com.

Poplava Resource Center:

- A few people have gotten themselves banned over the last couple of months for screwing around with certain fields. Don't do it because auto ban and grossly detailed logging is in full effect and if you submit certain things, your just done. I'm in no hurry to unban people either. You've been warned.

Poplava Challenge #1:

- A success in terms of completing it on time and as intended but the turn out wasn't such a great success. A lot of people started and then just faded toward the end. I would consider holding these often if I knew that people were going to actually participate. Anyone have suggestions on how to increase our participation?

This Week:

Poplava Collaboration Project:

- Respond to all the questions and feedback.
- Update the documentation
- Kick start the Snipe Fest project
- Work with potential Project Managers and see if we can work out a solid brain storming method to hash out new project ideas. A couple of you expressed interest in doing this, please drive things from your end to help move this thing along. I'm expecting some google chat conversations to take place.

Resource Center:

- I've racked up a number of tasks over the last couple of weeks that I am going to tackle.
- I'm also going start implementing the changes for the Collaboration Projects.
- If I can get a second dev for the starter project, that will free up time for making those changes as well as managing the entire effort. That's where I should really spend the most time.

Poplava Challenge #1:

- Dish out the prizes and close it out.
- Solicit feedback and suggestions for another one.

Connect: Resource Center
More: Info

Poplava Challenge #1 - FINAL!

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 06:10:03 +0000

Poplava Challenge Winners:

- 1st Place Winner

Tanx by Bravo1

- $150.00 (US currency) paid via PayPal or memberships [Teka123 donated 25$]
- 25000 Resource Center Silver

- 2nd Place Winner

War Bots by Ill Im

- $25.00 (US currency) paid via PayPal or memberships
- 25000 Resource Center Silver

- BYOND Member Choice Award

Tanx by Bravo1

- 25000 Resource Center Silver

Congratulations to both our winners!

Bravo1 clearly earned top spot with Tanx. This has truly been a fun game to watch grow over the last couple of months. I look forward to seeing what he makes of it.

Ill Im, you put the effort in and grabbed second place. Sometimes, that's all it takes. Way to go!

The contest is officially over. Thank you for your support. As always, feedback and suggestions on the existing competition or future ones are welcome.

Next Steps:
- By August 28th
- Prizes distributed throughout the following week. Winners, please log-in to the Resource Center and use the Send Message feature to provide your PayPal email address.

To learn more about the contest, go here: PopLava Challenge #1